President Donald Trump’s administration began 2026 by sparking a global (and potentially legal) controversy with its targeted military operation (codenamed Operation Absolute Resolve) against the Venezuelan government on Jan. 3. On President Trump’s orders, the United States military conducted a series of strikes and had captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on charges of drug trafficking.
President Trump called the operation an act of “law enforcement,” while some critics in the United Nations and the Venezuelan government called it an illegal act of kidnapping. Meanwhile, Trump escalated the situation by announcing that America would, in effect, run Venezuela (and its oil reserves), while members of his own administration haven’t backed up that claim.
