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Washington portrays abduction of Venezuela’s president as revival of Monroe Doctrine
The US will exert greater power across the Western Hemisphere, the State Department declared following the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a raid on Caracas.
US forces invaded the oil-rich South American country on Saturday, capturing Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Both were later indicted by the Department of Justice on drug-trafficking charges. Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty when they were brought before a New York court on Monday, while the Venezuelan government denounced the raid as an “imperialist attack.”
President Donald Trump said the military action against Venezuela marked the return and expansion of the Monroe Doctrine, a 19th-century policy originally aimed at preventing European powers from exerting influence in the region.
“This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened,” the State Department wrote on X on Monday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a similar warning in an interview with NBC. “This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live, and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operations for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States,” he said.
.@SecRubio: “This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States.” pic.twitter.com/Jd5dUY5frt
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 4, 2026
Trump said he wants American companies to gain access to Venezuela’s oil industry, which was nationalized by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez. He added that the US intends to “run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” without providing further details.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said the US had used drug charges as a pretext for “a colonial war” aimed at pillaging the country’s resources. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who was sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president on Monday, demanded Maduro’s release.
“President Donald Trump: our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war,” Rodríguez wrote on Instagram, vowing to safeguard Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Russia has also condemned the operation. Russian envoy to the UN Vassily Nebenzia described the raid as “international banditry,” warning that it was pushing the world toward chaos and “an epoch of lawlessness.”
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