Of the many adjectives used to describe Donald Trump, ‘bold’ is certainly one that his supporters and critics would agree on. Does this mean a good thing and for whom?
The answers to these questions may be found after Trump’s first major military operation of its kind on Saturday – a regime-change operation in Venezuela with the “capture” of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
Trump’s allies have called the military operation “bold” and “a huge success” as it ousted from power a South American strongman whom the US had branded an “illegitimate” dictator and “narco-terrorist”.
Follow | Update on US operations in Venezuela
“It was really a great operation,” Trump said. the new York Times Shortly after the removal of US forces from Venezuelan airspace. He later suggested that the US would “run” Venezuela. Until a new arrangement comes. He did not share election plans or other such details.
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Trump has now used the US military twice to carry out risky operations against US adversaries. In June, he directed American attacks Major Iranian nuclear sites,
But the path forward in Venezuela may raise more questions than answers. Let’s take a look at some of them:
Who will fill the vacuum of power after Maduro leaves?
what’s next now VenezuelaA country that has endured years of hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, and persistent brain drain despite vast oil wealth?
Maduro’s top lieutenants quickly took to social media and state TV early Saturday to make up for the power vacuum and take a defiant stance against the Trump administration.
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However, President Trump told Fox News that the US is reviewing how the regime transition in Venezuela will look, and will have an active role in deciding who will succeed Maduro.
Meanwhile, the most prominent leaders of the Communist regime were already asserting their control over the military and government.
Will the Vice President replace Maduro?
vice president Delsey Rodriguez will be next in line To become Maduro’s successor under the constitution. He called for national unity and rejected foreign interference, and spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. However, the Russian government has said reports that she was in Russia were false.
When Trump was asked who would succeed Maduro, he told Fox, “As you know, he has a vice president.”
What about Nobel laureate Machado?
Trump also said he would consider whether opposition leader Maria Corina Machado should be in charge. “After doing this incredible job last night we can’t afford to let someone else take over where we have to do it all over again,” he said.
Machado, 2025 Nobel Peace Prize WinnerSaid that Edmundo González, the candidate he supported in last year’s election, should immediately take power, and called on the armed forces to support him. But Gonzalez is in exile in Spain, and Machado has not yet returned to Venezuela after a trip to Sweden last month to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
Minister also included among the claimants
Another contender is Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, 62, who was the first senior government official to appear in a video on social media, more than three hours after the unrest began. In the message, he urged Venezuelans to remain calm, supported President Maduro’s declaration of emergency, and said national defense measures would be activated to restore order and stability.
Padrino has been Venezuela’s Defense Minister since October 2014, making him one of the longest-serving officials in the government. Padrino has consistently supported Maduro during key moments of unrest, including the 2017 protests, the 2019 challenge to Juan Guaidó following international recognition as interim president, and repeated reports of unrest within the military.
However, he faces direct American action, as the US administration has offered a reward of $15 million for information leading to his capture.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello also appeared on state television Saturday morning to urge peace. “What they tried to do with bombs and missiles was partially achieved,” he said, questioning whether the international community “will become complicit in this genocide”.
Cabello, 62, is the powerful leader of the government’s Socialist Party, who controls loyalists and followers across the country, as well as heading prisons, police and intelligence forces that the United Nations has said enable crimes against humanity.
Big moment for Trump, or potential policy disaster?
The operation to remove Maduro means Trump is not shying away from using US military power, even though he has vowed to keep the US out of the war.
With the Venezuela operation, Trump fulfilled a promise in his National Security Strategy published in December 2025 to assert US dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
But retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery told news agency AP that the immediate path forward in Venezuela may be more difficult: “Unlike the (Iran) attacks, where Trump took action and then said ‘the fight is over,’ he won’t have that luxury here in Venezuela,” said Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, an hawkish think tank in Washington.
He added, “They need to remain engaged in Venezuela to ensure that Maduro’s cronies – equally guilty of any crime – are also ousted from power, and they will want to stay and fight because they don’t have much room to run to.”
What about the global response?
European allies had already expressed concern after Trump built up a heavy troop presence in the Caribbean in recent months and carried out dozens of deadly attacks on suspected drug smugglers. His administration claimed that these “drug boats” were effectively an arm of the Maduro government.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the US “act of armed aggression” against Venezuela in a statement posted on its Telegram channel on Saturday. Maduro’s ouster, backed by the Russians, comes as Trump is urging Putin to end his nearly four-year brutal war on Ukraine. China has also criticized this action.
Overall, however, Maduro is hardly viewed kindly by most of the international community. Nevertheless, many US allies greeted the news of Maduro’s capture with some trepidation.
European Commission President Antonio Costa said he had “great concern” about the situation in Venezuela. “The EU has repeatedly said that Mr. Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X. “In all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected. We call for restraint.”
Criticism from some Democrats over Trump’s military action to remove Maduro was immediate. “This war is illegal, it’s shameful that we went from being the world police to being the world scoundrels in less than a year.” “There is no reason for us to go to war with Venezuela,” Arizona senator Ruben Gallego wrote on Twitter.
Beyond rhetoric, what does Trump want to achieve?
The operation was the culmination of pressure inside the administration led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other like-minded foes of Maduro, who had been urging Trump to take action against the Venezuelan leader for years before Trump’s first administration.
In Florida, the epicenter of Venezuelan migrant protests, the operation was hailed as an era-changing moment.
Maduro had found a way to get out of power while saving his honor. The Associated Press reported in October that Venezuelan government officials had created a plan under which Maduro would eventually leave office.
The proposal, which was rejected by the White House, calls for Maduro to step down in three years and hand over to his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who will serve Maduro’s six-year term, which ends in January 2031. Rodriguez will not run for re-election under the plan.
But the White House rejected the proposal because the administration questioned the legitimacy of Maduro’s regime.
Maduro also said earlier this week that Venezuela was ready to negotiate a deal with the US to combat drug trafficking and work with Washington to promote US investment in Venezuela’s oil industry.
Trump continued to insist that Maduro’s days in power were numbered.
Shortly after Trump announced Maduro’s capture, the White House posted a video of Trump on one of its social media accounts in October in which he apparently told reporters that Maduro was feeling pressure from the US campaign and was trying to cut a deal. “He doesn’t want to mess with the United States of America,” Trump said.
Elliott Abrams, who previously served as the US special representative for Iran and Venezuela in the Trump administration, said the president must now decide how much his administration will invest in shaping the next government in Caracas.
“I think the real question is whether Trump will claim victory and be satisfied with Delsey Rodriguez making some promises or engaging in negotiations,” Abrams said. “Or he’ll insist on Gonzalez.”
In an appearance on Fox TV on Saturday morning, Trump said he was not ready to commit to a certain leader, but promised that his administration would be “very involved” in Venezuela. Trump said, “We can’t afford to let somebody else run it – just take over where (Maduro) left off or left off.”
But another geopolitical question arises: What lessons will America’s adversaries draw from Trump’s decision, as China’s Xi Jinping vows to annex the self-ruled island of Taiwan, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin continues his war in Ukraine?
(With AP and Bloomberg inputs)
