Months after Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Machado publicly ‘thanked’ Donald Trump following her Nobel Peace Prize win, the United States carried out a direct military attack on Venezuela. The operation was framed by Washington as a moral response to what it called “narcotic terrorism,” but to many observers it appeared to follow a familiar regime change pattern. In the early hours of January 3, 2026, the situation escalated rapidly and violently.

At around 2 am, residents of Caracas were jolted awake as the sound of fighter jets tore through the night sky. The noise of strafing aircraft echoed across the capital, breaking the quiet of the early morning and signaling that the country was under attack. The strikes were not confirmed through traditional diplomatic channels or press briefings. Instead, the announcement came directly from US President Donald Trump, who acknowledged the military action through a post on Truth Social.

Trump further stated that US forces had captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them out of Venezuela to the United States. Following this, US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said that Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been indicted in the Southern District of New York. She added that the Venezuelan president had been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.

The US attack on Venezuela did not come as a sudden or isolated event. Instead, it appeared to be the predictable outcome for a government that had fallen out of favour with Washington. The timing of the strikes is especially notable, as they came months after opposition leader Maria Machado dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to the US President. At the time, she thanked him for what she said he had been doing “around the world for peace”. She described her Nobel win as a “recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans”, and said it gave momentum to complete the task, which she defined as “to conquer freedom.”

Machado did not limit her message to symbolic praise. She openly called for US intervention in Venezuela in the name of Freedom and democracy. After winning the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2025, she wrote on X, “We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy.” Her statement clearly positioned the United States as a central force in Venezuela’s political struggle.

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Responding to Machado’s Nobel victory, President Trump said that he had spoken to her over a phone call. During that conversation, according to Trump, she told him that she had accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in his honour and that she believed he deserved it. The public display of mutual appreciation between the two leaders left little doubt about the direction events in Venezuela were taking, both in the months leading up to the strikes and in what followed.

In December 2025, Machado once again aligned herself with US pressure on President Maduro. She made a global appeal to cut the flow of money from drugs, arms, and human trafficking, which she attributed to what she described as Venezuela’s authoritarian regime. During this period, she said she was “very hopeful” that Venezuela would soon be free and added confidently, “It’s going to be soon.”

Trump accused the Maduro regime of narcotic terrorism

The conflict between the United States and Venezuela is rooted largely in Washington’s allegations against the Maduro government. The US has accused the Venezuelan leadership of pushing thousands of migrant workers toward the southern border of the United States while also facilitating the smuggling of narcotics into US territory. President Trump accused President Maduro of “emptying his prisons and insane asylums” and “forcing” inmates to migrate to the United States. In addition, Trump has repeatedly accused Maduro of drug trafficking and of working with groups designated as terrorist organisations.

According to the US President, Venezuela has acted as a major transit route for cocaine, contributing significantly to the drug crisis in the United States. He claimed that Venezuelan boats have been involved in smuggling narcotics through the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Moving away from the traditional US approach of dealing with drug cartels through law enforcement, the Trump administration launched a military campaign against Venezuelan drug cartels in September 2025. In the months that followed, US forces carried out strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats, an operation Trump described as a “war on drugs.”

The US strikes on Venezuela resemble a classic regime change operation

The January strikes also followed years of legal and political confrontation. In 2020, President Maduro was indicted on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges in the Southern District of New York. The United States has said that it is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels, which it accuses Maduro of harbouring and leading. President Maduro has consistently denied these allegations, calling them a US strategy to remove him from power in order to gain access to Venezuela’s oil resources.

Notably, just days before the US strikes, Maduro had offered to cooperate with Washington on drug trafficking and migration issues. Despite this offer, the military operation went ahead. Given his earlier indictment, it is speculated that President Maduro could face charges in the United States. At the same time, the decision to carry out the strikes without approval from the US Congress has raised questions within the United States, with President Trump potentially facing domestic scrutiny over the legality of the action.

What is now unfolding in Venezuela follows a pattern the world has seen before. Similar events have played out in countries such as Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. The removal of unfavourable governments and the installation of leadership aligned with US interests has long been a recurring tactic, and for many critics, Venezuela now appears to be the latest example of that approach in action.