President Trump kidnapping President Maduro: a coup d’état

In January 2026, the United States military abducted Nicolás Maduro and his wife and took them to New York. Mr and Mrs Maduro have been charged with various crimes. In his statement about the action, Donald J Trump even called Maduro ‘President’.

What the USA did to Maduro is illegal on many levels. It is an invasion. The US military entered the territory of another sovereign state without permission. Even if no one was killed, this was illegal. They took a citizen of another country from that country to the United States against his will. That is kidnapping. Maduro was recognised as the head of state by many other countries. Therefore, he has sovereign immunity. President Trump frequently and fervently asserts his own sovereign immunity from a whole host of laws. But when it is another president’s sovereign immunity that does not count, he claims. This is flagrantly hypocritical and illogical. The United States could have requested the extradition of Maduro, and Venezuelan courts could have considered it. The US did not even attempt to do so.

The Maduros have been arraigned on various charges. The bill of indictment states that they possessed firearms and destructive devices and attempted to organise cocaine smuggling into the USA. How can possessing these firearms be against US law? The Republican Party that runs the United States is the party of the gun nuts. They claim an unlimited right to possess and carry guns everywhere. If Maduro possessed firearms in Venezuela, how can that possibly be against US law? Moreover, as commander-in-chief of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, he was a military officer and therefore had a good reason to possess firearms.

There is drug dealing in every country. Does that mean every president could be legally kidnapped? As there are Americans smuggling drugs into other countries, is that making Trump personally responsible?

One must ask: what if the boot were on the other foot? What if another country kidnapped the President of the United States? Would the USA find that acceptable?

At the moment, the USA is mighty, so that will not happen. One day, it might be weak, and its foes might follow the American example. The United States Government has not even attempted to argue that kidnapping Maduro was in consonance with international law.

The Russians wanted to kill or capture Zelenskyy at the start of the Ukraine war. The USA and others warned them not to. Now the USA has done just that: kidnapped a president. There is a difference. There is no state of war between the USA and Venezuela.

For weeks leading up to the kidnapping, the United States Navy blew up Venezuelan fishing boats and claimed that the fishermen were drug smugglers. That is unproven at best. Even then, drug smuggling is not a death penalty offence in the USA or most other countries. In the USA, the death penalty is imposed only after a trial and many appeals. This was piracy on the high seas. The fishing boats were sometimes destroyed in Venezuelan territorial waters. It showed a reckless disregard for international law. The USA is a rogue state. In one case, some fishermen survived the attack and were in the water. The US Navy saw this and fired again to finish them off. This is against the Geneva Convention.

Other Western countries have been mealy-mouthed about these many breaches of international law. They do not want there to be more tariffs. They also need US military support in case of a war against Russia.

Trump has ripped up the statute book. He acts as though international law does not exist. But the USA is vociferous in upholding its own rights under international law. It gratingly asserts its adherence to some international laws. It preaches to others on their foreign and domestic policies. It therefore behoves the USA to abide by international law.

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. Twelve years of gross maladministration by Maduro have driven the country into the ground. The economy is collapsing; there is very serious inflation and widespread hunger. Many have fled the country. In 2024, Maduro rigged the election. Seventy per cent of people voted for the opposition candidate, yet Maduro claimed victory. When it mattered, the military obeyed his orders. Soldiers are among the only people who get three meals a day.

Violent crime is endemic. Drug gangs control many cities. Venezuela is almost a failed state.

Maduro was born into a working-class family in Caracas in 1962. Unlike many Venezuelans, he was able to attend school. He is one of four children, and they were raised as Christians. He had Spanish and Jewish ancestry. He grew up and became a bus driver. He became heavily involved in the trade-union movement, like his father before him.

Hugo Chávez attempted a military coup in the 1990s. He failed and was sent to prison. On release, he entered politics, with Maduro as his right-hand man. In 2003, Chávez was elected president. His populist leftist policies appealed to many. He was an outspoken abominator of George W Bush.

Chávez renamed Venezuela the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. He said the country needed to be based on the egalitarian and socialist philosophy of Simón Bolívar, who was born in the country. Hugo Chávez said that the economy would be run for the benefit of the masses and not for the enrichment of a tiny clique or foreign companies.

There were oil-for-services deals with other countries. Venezuela gave oil to Cuba in return for doctors’ or teachers’ services. There was also inefficiency, peculation and corruption. Many petrochemical engineers left the country.

The Cuban medical missionaries had to give most of their salaries to the Cuban Government. They did not practise medicine in an objective manner but were said to give better medicines to supporters of Chávez than to his opponents.

Hugo Chávez died of natural causes in 2013. Maduro succeeded him. He persisted in the same policies, which wreaked a deleterious effect on the country.

Maduro is known to be a tyrant, and no decent person will mourn his deposition. That must not blind us to the illegality of what was done by the US. Many Venezuelans will rejoice that he is gone. That does not guarantee that the situation will improve.

The US Attorney General said Maduro will face ‘American justice and American wrath in American courts’. This ‘American’ triptych is indicative of the chauvinistic mania of the current US administration. The Attorney General said things that will prejudice Maduro’s trial.

Trump has set a dangerous precedent. Russia will cite this example as justification for similar actions elsewhere. Moscow will skilfully exploit the US action. Among the Global South, there is a recognition that the US often breaks international law with impunity.

Israel and Argentina are among the few countries praising what Trump has done.

Trump has said the quiet part out loud: this is really about oil. He simply wants to steal Venezuelan oil. As usual, he indulged in victim-blaming, saying the oil was ‘stolen’ from the USA. How can Venezuela’s oil belong to the USA? He said the United States will not govern Venezuela. How, then, does he propose to do so?

The MAGA movement said no more forever wars. Trump said he would avoid war. He may have started one.

Seizing Maduro was the easy part. Controlling Venezuela will not be simple. The Vice-President is now exercising presidential powers. If he is killed or kidnapped, there is a whole line of succession: number three can take over, and if he or she is eliminated, number four, and so on. Admittedly, people might not be keen to assume the presidency if they know it puts them in the crosshairs of Uncle Sam.

The US began a major naval build-up in September. This did not intimidate Venezuela. They also negotiated with Maduro, trying to convince him to resign and go into exile in return for immunity from prosecution. This did not work, and push came to shove.

Washington, DC has attempted to orchestrate coups d’état in Venezuela for several years. They tried to suborn military officers to effect a putsch, but so far this has not succeeded. Plots were scotched by Venezuelan intelligence.

This time, Uncle Sam might get lucky. Some Venezuelan military officers may decide the time is ripe for regime change. There could be a military junta friendly towards the USA. So much for democracy.

If there is a pro-US regime in Caracas, then sanctions will be lifted. Venezuelan oil will return to the world market. Prices will drop, boosting global growth. This will hurt the Russian economy, which relies on a high oil price.

If urging a military coup does not work, then the US could try airstrikes, but that seldom leads to regime change. Could it invade Venezuela? It is a large jungle and mountainous country. Caracas is a metropolis of several million, with teeming slums controlled by drug gangs. The US military would take significant casualties in an invasion. As Iraq and Afghanistan prove, establishing a viable government is far trickier than toppling a regime.

If the USA invades Venezuela, it would likely be drawn into a military and political quagmire. This is precisely what Trump pledged to avoid.

The President of Cuba will be worried that he is America’s next target. Since 1960, the USA has wanted to topple the socialist government in Cuba.

Denmark will also be worried. Trump spoke of buying Greenland, which is a territory of the Danish Crown. The Danes have said it is not for sale. Almost no Greenlander wants to join the USA. Trump said he might take the largest island in the world by military means. Now this does not seem so risible.

Trump is not intelligent and cannot read at an adult level. He is addled, irascible, volatile and petulant. He has a very short attention span. Everything is refracted through the prism of his own ego. There is no telling what he will do next.

Any court worth the name would say Maduro was abducted. He is in the US illegally and must be returned home immediately. A trial cannot be based on the crime of prosecutors. Prosecutorial misconduct far less serious than this is enough to lead to a not-guilty verdict.