The Capture of Maduro: Venezuela, Drugs & the Fight for Global Power

The first week of 2026 delivered the geopolitical shock of the year. Not from Gaza, not from Ukraine, but from Caracas — where the United States removed Nicolás Maduro from power and ended the rule of a man long accused of narcotrafficking, corruption, and authoritarianism. For decades, Americans watched Pablo Escobar terrorize Colombia until he was finally rolled off a rooftop. Maduro, in many ways, governed in the same mold: a leader who fused state power with criminal enterprise, using oil and cocaine to sustain a regime that served foreign patrons more than its own people.

But the real story is bigger than one man. Maduro's fall exposes the deeper forces that have shaped South America for centuries — and the uncomfortable truth that the region has always been a battleground for outside powers, from Spain and Portugal to the United States, Russia, and China.

A Region Shaped by Empires — and Resentment

Europe arrived in the Americas long before modern nationalism existed. Spain and Portugal imposed institutions, religion, and racial hierarchies that permanently reshaped Indigenous civilizations. By the time the United States emerged as a hemispheric power, South America already had strong national identities and a deep suspicion of foreign interference.

That timing mattered. Where Europe built empires before nationalism, the U.S. tried to influence the region after nationalism had hardened. By the mid-20th century, universities, armies, and political movements taught anti-imperialism as a civic virtue. "Yankee imperialism" became a rallying cry — even for governments quietly aligned with Washington.

This tension defined U.S. policy for decades. Washington preferred military regimes to left-wing governments, seeing dictatorships as a bulwark against communism — a pattern of coups and interventions that continued into the 21st century. The Banana Wars remain a classic example of resources driving policy over people. Yet Venezuela was one of the earliest and most reliable U.S. allies in South America. The relationship only soured when oil, ideology, and global power politics collided.

The Rise of Chávez — and the Collapse of a System

Hugo Chávez did not emerge from nowhere. He rose because Venezuela's political order had already collapsed. For forty years, the Punto Fijo system — dominated by two parties — delivered stability but also corruption, exclusion, and economic stagnation. By the 1990s, Venezuelans were exhausted.

Chávez offered something the old parties could not: an outsider who promised dignity, justice, and a break from the past. He styled himself the leader of the Bolivarian movement , rewrote the constitution, centralized power, and built a petro-socialist model funded by soaring oil prices. For a time, it worked. Poverty fell. Social programs expanded. His charisma carried the movement.

But the model had a fatal flaw: it depended entirely on oil. When prices crashed, the system imploded. Nationalization, mismanagement, and corruption hollowed out the economy. The state that once promised empowerment delivered shortages, inflation, and repression.

Maduro — The Bureaucrat Who Became a Strongman

Nicolás Maduro inherited a broken system and made it worse. Without Chávez's charisma, he relied on force. He consolidated the military, banned or weakened opposition parties, and ruled by decree. More than 50 countries refused to recognize his presidency. The U.S. indicted him for narcotrafficking. A $25 million bounty was placed on his head.

It was not until the year 2000 that Russia and China started to interfere — Russia with military support for Chávez and geopolitical influence , and China with infrastructure projects , especially from 2010–2020, to secure minerals. But neither country had the interest of the Venezuelan people in mind.

By 2026, Venezuela was no longer a functioning state. It was a criminalized petro-regime aligned with Russia and China, both of which saw Venezuela not as a partner but as a strategic asset.

Maduro's removal was inevitable. The only question was who would do it — and what would come next.

The Aftermath — and the Hypocrisy

Here are the players who took control of the country after the U.S. removed him from power. So what is next? While the UN debates the possibility of breaking international law — read the experts — even though they never recognized him as a legitimate president, the anti-oil lobby claims Trump associates are making a killing off the oil. Meanwhile, the left supports the authoritarian and corrupt regime for their ideology. Hypocrites is not a strong enough word.

The ideal would be to give the Nobel Peace Prize winner a chance in an election — but tell that to Chuck Schumer , or the Democratic Socialists. They would rather see Trump in jail and Venezuela run by a despot as a democratic legacy.

The Drug Economy — America's Uncomfortable Mirror

If we are honest, the cocaine trade that helped sustain regimes like Maduro's did not begin in the barrios of Caracas or Medellín. It began in American boardrooms, nightclubs, and college campuses.

In the 1980s and 1990s, cocaine was a luxury drug — used by young urban professionals, lawyers, stockbrokers, real estate agents, DJs, models, nightlife workers, and wealthy college students. Cocaine was a status symbol long before it became a criminal epidemic. The War on Drugs punished suppliers and poor users, but the early demand came from America's elite. That demand built the cartels. That demand destabilized governments. That demand helped create the very crisis the U.S. now seeks to solve.

Perhaps the DEA should have cooperated with Pablo Escobar and the Queen of Coke to sell bananas instead. Some of those early customers might be sitting in Congress now.

What Comes Next

Venezuela's future will not be determined by the UN, which debates legality but rarely enforces it. Nor will it be shaped by ideological activists who romanticize authoritarian regimes because they dislike American power.

The real contest is between three global actors: China, using infrastructure, minerals, and debt; Russia, using military support and political disruption; and the United States, using security, energy, and financial leverage.

If the U.S. wants stability — and a future where South America is not defined by narcotics, corruption, and foreign manipulation — it must offer something better than coups and condemnations. It must offer economic pathways, infrastructure partnerships, and a plan to rebuild Venezuela's shattered institutions.

Now we have a president trying to give South America a life outside of drugs, while Democrats root for a dictator and drugs.

Oil will be part of Venezuela's future — here is the country's history with oil. So will accountability. But the real challenge is legitimacy — the one resource Venezuela has lacked for decades.

Maduro's fall is not the end of a story. It is the beginning of a test: Can the region build a future based on prosperity and sovereignty, or will it remain trapped between autocrats, cartels, and competing empires? The answer will shape not just Venezuela, but the balance of power in the 21st century.