Venezuela launches wave of repression after US seizure of Nicolás Maduro

[In It to Win It]

Last edited Tue Jan 6, 2026, 09:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Venezuela’s government has launched a crackdown in the wake of the US capture of Nicolás Maduro, arresting journalists and deploying paramilitary forces to suppress any show of support for the authoritarian leader’s removal.

The wave of repression comes as Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy and the country’s new leader, moved to consolidate her hold over the oil-rich nation in the wake of the surprise US commando operation, which snatched Maduro from a military base to face trial.

Long-serving defence minister Vladimir Padrino pledged the support of the armed forces for Rodríguez after she was sworn in as acting president on Monday.

Venezuela’s military would stand with Rodríguez “in the difficult task which the geopolitical turbulence and the homeland demand of her”, he wrote in a Telegram message. “Count on us!”

Gun-toting paramilitaries known as colectivos have been deployed to the streets of Caracas under a state of emergency announced on Monday, which forbade Venezuelans from showing support for the US raid. Media unions said 14 journalists and media workers — 11 from foreign outlets — had been detained for hours before being released.

https://www.ft.com/content/b3a2763a-3987-419e-bcf1-11432f747182

[dalton99a]

1. .

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-01-05/venezuela-orders-police-to-find-arrest-anyone-involved-in-supporting-u-s-attack-decree

[COL Mustard]

13. So, no celebrations in the street?

Color me SHOCKED.

[iluvtennis]

17. Sounds exactly like what traitor trump tries to do

here in the US.

Maduro stole his election like trump tried to steal 2020.

Birds of a feather.

US needs to get out and let this country be the sovereign nation it is. But trump and the American oil companies want Venezuela’s oil.

[Bengus81]

25. Yeah...I thought they were at the throwing roses stage by now

[Aussie105]

32. The plan was to remove Maduro, then stand back and watch

while American flavor Democracy blossoms in the streets, while citizens wept tears of joy and cried in unison "Sir, thank you for freeing us, please take our oil as a sign of our gratitude!"

Instead, there is a crackdown of sorts.

Putin level misjudgement, that!

[BootinUp]

2. Exactly what I feared would happen. nt

[David__77]

3. Makes perfect sense. Nice editorializing by FT.

[everyonematters]

4. The country is still being run by a bunch of corrupt thugs who steal elections and violate

people's rights. We don't care anymore as long as they let us control the oil. The right used to tell us they are bad because they are socialists. Notice that that word isn't being used now. Human rights is what we should care about, instead of their economic system. Taking control of Venezuelan oil is immoral and against the norms of international behavior.

[Happy Hoosier]

6. Heard great analysis of this on Prof G markets this AM.

Last edited Tue Jan 6, 2026, 11:05 AM - Edit history (1)

This was a well planned and executed military raid. No doubt. But it was executed a vacuum. There are no plans, no strategies, and no possibility of realizing any long term goals. The best Trump can hope for is extortion of the remaining regime to open oil development to American coporate control. Insane. And we have the sources suggesting Putin offered to not support Venezuela in exchange for the US withdrawing support for Ukraine.

And this AM we have L'il Goebells saying that the US has the power to take Greenland and no one would be able to stop us.

More and more it looks like that Trump, Putin, and Xi really HAVE decided to slice up the world into regions of influence.

Europe needs to realize its very existence as an independent entity is on the line here.

These are terrifying times.

[2naSalit]

14. "Europe needs to realize its very existence as an independent entity is on the line here."

They most certainly are far more aware then you or most in this country do. Think of it like this; Say you live in Oklahoma and Texas decides to bomb you into oblivion so they can take over your oil industry and fresh water, you don't matter, only your possessions. Don't you think New Mexico and Arkansas would be worried about their safety? Especially if Texas had done this before and already held the panhandle of Oklahoma and was bombing from there?

They have been concerned about this for decades, ever since pootin got into power. Just because we don't hear much about it here doesn't mean the conditions we imagine aren't already in place.

We had better get off our asses and fucking do something, here, with our fascist regime taking over, Europe already knows the score.

[Happy Hoosier]

16. Perhaps... but so far, they are acting like...

... they still expect Trump to come to his senses and provide a united front. He won't do either of those things.

At least for now, they have to write off the US. It sucks, but it's true. The US is no longer a realiable ally so long as Trump is in control.

I deal with European partners frequently in my job. They really are mostly thinking this is just bluster and bravado. So doa lot of the US defense firms dealing with European allies. But some are coming to the realization that a united West lead by the US is mostly over. At least for now.

[Cosmocat]

30. That is not even remotely my sense

That there is any meaningful, if any at all, expectations in Europe for DT to "come to his senses."

There two groups ...

Other right wingers who love the blow everything up mindset and are all for whatever DT does and those who know he is exactly what he is. How they deal with that varies - what you may take as them waiting for him to come to his senses may be pragmatic telling him what he wants to hear while doing what they need to on the down low.

[Aussie105]

33. Before Putin in fact. Well before.

My parents left Holland 66 years ago, to start a new life in Australia.
One of the reasons was the fear of Russia invading to the west.
They lived through WW2 after all.

A predominant reason for mass migration out of Europe after WW2 to America, South Africa, Australia would have been to avoid the next one.

And here we are, fears of WW3 dormant for so long, with it about to happen soon enough.

[blue-wave]

18. The thugs running Venezuela

have people who oppose their regime in torture chambers. The stories of the torture is horrific.

[Farmer-Rick]

21. Yeah, the same kind of crap President W

And Cheney carried out against detainees in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

And here we are pretending we are better than Maduro.

The hypocrisy of the US just never ends.

[Celerity]

5. Nicolás

to make the 'á' display in the DU subject line you need to type in

&aacute


https://www.ou.edu/research/electron/internet/special.shtml

[In It to Win It]

7. Thanks. I didn't even realize it wasn't there 😂

[Celerity]

8. the DU software needs to be upgraded to handle special characters in the subject line

[wolfie001]

20. Thank you!

I've tried and failed many times.

[Midnight Writer]

9. "Nobody could have possibly foreseen..." The Republican Big Lie, repeated since 2001

[generalbetrayus]

10. ♫ Here's to the new boss, same as the old boss. ♫

[moniss]

11. The very predictable instability will be used as an

excuse for further US military intervention.

[BradBo]

12. And Maria Machado got nowhere kissing Trumps ass.

[Javaman]

15. Nothing like a dictator to piss away opportunity.

We know this well.

[KS Toronado]

19. Hope when the time comes Venezuela will say their oil fields are not for sale

They could start by demanding the U.S. give them back their oil we're keeping under our country.

[Farmer-Rick]

22. They are ruthlessly hunting down those

Venezuelans who cooperated with pedo Trump and his humpers. Can't say I blame them. When you cooperate and help known enemies of your country, it's the very definition of a traitor.

If the US military were smart, they would have gotten their Venezuelan operatives out of the country along with Maduro. The operatives would be traitors to Venezuela but not to pedo Trump.

I wonder if that's what happened to Machado? Or she's in hiding because she did come out and invite the pedo to attack her country. She was playing a very dangerous game.

An authoritarian leader deploying paramilitary forces to suppress any show of support for the authoritarian leader’s removal by an authoritain foreign country. This is why authoritarians are so stupidly incompetent.

[Callie1979]

23. I've been telling these idiots; we spent 50M to make an arrest. thats it

So far NOTHING else is better for Venezuelans.

[JI7]

24. So our soldiers are not out on the streets defending them ? The first part isn't too difficult

for a giant military power .

It's the stuff that comes after where we have not been successful.

[JustAnotherGen]

26. I don't want

American soldiers there at all.

[Mysterian]

27. One dictatorship replaced by an even worse one

A foreign dictatorship with unlimited resources to oppress the people.

[C_U_L8R]

28. Yet another freakin Trump disaster

When it comes to total fuck-ups, Trump is without doubt number one.

[rickford66]

29. Trump thrives on chaos. He's loving this.

[SmittyWerben]

31. Without a substantial US military presence on the ground

Trumps' oil group will never be able to control the the country and establish what-the-hell-ever his whacked out administration envisioned happening there. Cluster fuckery in 3 2 1...