The Guardian view on the US seizure of Maduro: Trump has turned the world's superpower into a rogue state | Editorial

"The US has a grim history of interference, invasion and occupation in the region, but the early hours of Saturday saw its first major military attack on South American land. American dominance in the western hemisphere will never be questioned again, Mr Trump declared. The decision to unilaterally attack another country and abduct its leader days after he publicly sought an off-ramp has still wider repercussions. It should alarm us all."

"Venezuelans have endured a repressive, kleptocratic and incompetent regime under Mr Maduro, widely believed to have stolen the last election. They now face profound uncertainty at best. Mr Trump has suggested that Mr Maduro's deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, would follow US instructions, and dismissed the rightwing opposition leader and Nobel prize-winner Maria Corina Machado as a plausible replacement. But Ms Rodriguez, now interim president, has so far struck a defiant tone and other parts of the decapitated regime are more hardline."

"A man who won power promising to abandon foreign wars now says he is not afraid of boots on the ground. Rebranding the Department of Defense as the Department of War was more than posturing. He does not see the world's superpower as policeman; he is turning it into a rogue state. He believes the US's might allows it to do as it wishes with minimal cost: witness the strikes on Nigeria, on Iran's nuclear facilities and elsewhere."

The United States launched major military strikes on Venezuelan soil, seized President Nicolás Maduro, and announced plans to administer the country and seize its oil. The operation occurred without UN authorization or congressional approval and after public signals that Maduro sought an off-ramp. Venezuelans face profound uncertainty amid a repressive and kleptocratic regime and potential hardline resistance from remaining regime elements. The U.S. framing elevates American dominance in the hemisphere and normalizes unilateral interventionism, with promises that Venezuelan oil will offset costs. Democratic lawmakers were reportedly uninformed or misled, raising questions about legality, precedent, and the transformation of U.S. posture toward more aggressive, less accountable state behavior.

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