By Dan McCarthy
Mail

Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in a raid President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.

Maduro landed Saturday evening at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital city of Caracas — an act that Maduro's government called “imperialist.”

The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

Whether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday.

“There are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro,” said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst.

In Arizona, Republican lawmakers praised the move to arrest Maduro while Democrats blasted Trump’s decision.

“Trump thinks acting like Putin makes him look strong, but what he did in Venezuela has strategic implications he doesn’t understand,” Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly stated on Facebook.

“China could try to use it to justify going after Taiwan, or Russia could use it to justify escalation in Ukraine or even elsewhere. Trump doesn’t get that and it makes Americans and our allies and partners less safe.”

Republican Rep. Andy Biggs praised Trump’s action, stating on Facebook the president “leads with resolve and will never hesitate to do what he thinks is best for American citizens.

"The criminal charges and indictments against illegitimate dictator Maduro form the legal basis for this law-enforcement operation with military protection. This action is within President Trump’s Article II executive authority.”

The raid capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela's autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.

“There is no justification for the United States to be at war with Venezuela,” Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, said.

“I lived through the consequences of an illegal war sold to the American people with lies. We swore we would never repeat those mistakes. Yet here we are again.

The American people did not ask for this, Congress did not authorize this, and our service members should not be sent into harm’s way for another unnecessary conflict.”

Rep. Abe Hamadeh said the move was justified, calling Maduro “an illegitimate ruler” who “has led a drug cartel masquerading as a government and terrorized his own people.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dan McCarthy
Web content

dmccarthy@iniusa.org

Meet Dan
Dan McCarthy joined Independent Newsmedia as web content editor after a 40-plus year career as a reporter and editor in New Jersey and Arizona. During his time in Arizona, he has been an editor of daily and weekly papers in Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler, Ahwatukee, Sun City, Sun City West, Surprise, Peoria and Glendale. Prior to moving to Arizona in 1984, when he was hired to be assistant city editor at the Tempe Daily News, he covered regional police/fire news, municipal, county and state governments in New Jersey, the latter as bureau chief at the state Capitol.

Community: He has served on several boards over the years, including the Tempe Community Action Agency and the Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital Board of Governors. He is a graduate of the Tempe Leadership and Scottsdale Leadership programs, serving as media adviser for subsequent classes of Tempe Leadership.

Education: Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism. 

Random Fact: Set winter/summer track records in the 60-, 100- and 220-yard dashes at his high school in New Jersey. 

Hobbies: Tai chi, cooking, dining at his must-eat-once places around the U.S. and the Cincinnati Reds, his favorite team since 1961.