"How Much Did the U.S. Spend to Capture Maduro?" [View all]

[yellow dahlia]

The PRICER
Published on January 4, 2026
Written by Alec Pow

The headline number is $60 million, a modeled estimate for the U.S. capture operation targeting Nicolás Maduro, built from public reporting and publicly posted U.S. military cost benchmarks. It is not an official budget figure, and it is not a claim about classified line items that have not been disclosed.

A fair likely band around the headline estimate is $25 million to $150 million, driven mainly by the mix of weapons used, how long the operation ran at peak tempo, and how much of the cost was truly incremental versus activities already funded for the region.

At a glance
Best public estimate: $60M (incremental, short surge window).
Likely band: $25M to $150M.
Main driver: standoff missiles versus lower cost guided bombs.
Why we can model it: publicly posted reimbursable aircraft rates plus public unit cost benchmarks for key munitions.
What this is not: an official after action accounting or a claim about undisclosed classified line items.

Here is a link to the article: https://www.thepricer.org/how-much-did-the-u-s-spend-to-capture-maduro/
It contains lots of charts and data that explain how they got to their summaries.

I found this article because I was wondering how much money "we" spent, while Americans are going without food and healthcare security.

And then how much more money is going to be spent on the ongoing mission (debacle)? It will cost billions for what they have planned - more infrastructure, extracting oil, etc. And what about future military presence?