Nicolás Maduro Arrested in US Military Operation in Venezuela

The US Army has arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, under the ‘Don-Ro Doctrine’.

• US President Donald Trump has claimed that, on his instructions, an extraordinary military operation was carried out in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
• Speaking at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, President Trump described the operation as being in line with US foreign policy, known as the Monroe Doctrine.
• He said, “Until we achieve a safe, correct and sensible transition, we will run the country,”
• The image of the 63-year-old Maduro being taken to the United States with his eyes blindfolded and hands cuffed has shocked the people of Venezuela, and it was Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.
• He said that US forces targeted a heavily fortified military facility in the heart of Caracas to bring Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to justice. Trump said that until a safe, proper and just transfer of power takes place, the United States will run Venezuela.
• President Trump compared this operation to previous US military campaigns against Iran, including strikes on nuclear facilities.
• President Trump also alleged that Venezuela is a major source of illegal drugs entering the United States and claimed that US action has significantly reduced maritime drug trafficking.
• He said that large US companies would help rebuild Venezuela’s oil and infrastructure sectors, and stated that if necessary, the US is prepared to carry out further military action.

‘Monroe - Don-Ro Doctrine’

• President Donald Trump described this operation as being in line with US foreign policy, known as the Monroe Doctrine, which has guided the country for more than 200 years. “Now it is called the Donro document,” Trump said, adding the first letter of his name to the series of principles.”
• Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, during the tenure of former President Barack Obama, had declared that “the era of the Monroe Doctrine is over,” more than a decade later, Trump is now adopting this policy.
• The Monroe Doctrine, named after its creator, former President James Monroe, in 1823, is considered one of the most important US foreign policy agendas of the 19th century.
• According to the Office of the Historian of the Department of State, this doctrine was used to justify US interventions in Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
• In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt introduced the “Roosevelt Corollary”, which stated that under certain circumstances, the United States has the right to intervene in the Americas.
• According to the National Archives, US Marines were sent to Santo Domingo in 1904, Nicaragua in 1911 and Haiti in 1915, “apparently to keep Europeans out.”

Nicolás Maduro Moros

• The Venezuelan politician and former union leader served as President of Venezuela from 2013 until he was removed from power after being captured and expelled from the country by the United States in 2026. He served as Vice President under President Hugo Chávez from 2012 to 2013 and as Foreign Minister from 2006 to 2012.
• Starting as a bus driver, Maduro became a trade union leader and was elected to the National Assembly in 2000.
• After Chávez’s death, Maduro assumed the presidency and won the 2013 special presidential election. He ruled Venezuela by decree through powers granted by the ruling party legislature after 2015.

Venezuela

• Officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, it is a country on the northern coast of South America, comprising a continental landmass and many islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea.
• The capital and largest urban agglomeration is the city of Caracas. The continental area is bordered by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Colombia to the west, Brazil to the south, Trinidad and Tobago to the north-east and Guyana to the east.
• Spain colonised Venezuelan territory in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples. Since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments.
• Venezuela has 18 percent of the world’s oil reserves—the largest—but so far it has been able to extract only 1 percent. This is because Venezuela has reserves of heavy oil, whereas Gulf countries have light oil.
• Heavy oil requires a high level of refining facilities, which Venezuela did not have.