Maduro was an indicted narcoterrorist running an illegitimate regime that flooded the U.S. with drugs and handed Venezuela over to Iran and Hezbollah — removing him was the right call. The Western Hemisphere cannot be a staging ground for America's adversaries, and President Trump proved that unlike his predecessors, he actually enforces consequences. The days of slapping a $25 million bounty on a dictator and doing nothing about it are finished.
A former Chevron exec shaped the CIA's advice to back Maduro's deputy over Venezuela's democratic opposition — and Chevron stands to profit handsomely from that call. This wasn't about democracy or stopping drugs; it was a naked imperial grab for Venezuelan oil dressed up in national security language. Trusting Big Oil to write U.S. foreign policy is a recipe for corruption, not liberation.
© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 6.18.0