Nicolas Maduro pleads ‘innocent’ in NYC as judge sets next court date

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This is an excerpt from an opinion article by former Trump adviser K.T. McFarland

President Donald Trump’s bold decision to capture, arrest, and bring Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro to trial for drug-related offenses is far bigger than Operation Absolute Resolve itself. It resets the global chessboard. Here are ten reasons why.

First, the Venezuelan operation proves that American military and intelligence capabilities aren’t just better than anybody else’s — they operate in a wholly different dimension. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has thrown his entire military at Ukraine in hopes of establishing Russian domination and killing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The bloody war has dragged on for three years, costing hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars, while draining both countries. And still, that war grinds on.

President Trump sent a small group of special forces into Caracas. Within three hours, they had captured President Maduro and his wife, transporting them to New York to face justice in a U.S. court. No Americans were killed.

Operation Absolute Resolve, like Operation Midnight Hammer, which destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities in a matter of hours, was carefully planned, flawlessly executed, and 100% successful. Nobody but America could do that — and leaders around the world know it.

Second, as President Trump says, if you kill Americans, you will be held accountable. Maduro and the drug cartels have killed tens of thousands of Americans with drugs. Not only have we now secured our borders and stopped the flow of fentanyl, but we are bringing drug cartel leaders — including the Maduro family — to face justice.

Third, President Trump has just reversed decades of failed American foreign policy. For years, American leaders of both parties ignored the importance of the Western Hemisphere. They dismissed the growing threats from the countries themselves and from anti-American powers seeking to establish footholds in our hemisphere. American leaders turned a blind eye to drug smuggling and human trafficking. The Biden administration, for its own political purposes, actively encouraged a mass invasion across our border by illegal aliens.

While we were focused on the forever wars in the Middle East and the dogma of climate change, three groups were moving into South and Central America — the Chinese, the cartels, and the communists.

Trump’s new national security strategy puts the Western Hemisphere at the center of our foreign policy. Trump allies and reformers now govern Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and El Salvador — and potentially Venezuela. His long-term vision is a North and South America united by similar economic and governance systems, working in harmony for peace and prosperity…