Some mornings you wake up, turn on your phone just to check the weather, and shock your wife awake by suddenly going "Oh holy crap, they arrested Maduro!"
As we have seen in recent news coverage that has been breaking with the speed of summer lightning, Nicolás Maduro, the detestable former leader of Venezuela, is no longer El Presidente Maduro - he's just plain old Maduro, in federal custody, after being arraigned on a variety of federal charges. That's a good thing for Venezuela and the Western Hemisphere.
My colleague Rusty Weiss has done excellent work covering that as it happened:
Read More: Maduro and His Wife Have Been Indicted in SDNY, Bondi Says: Here Are the Charges
So the question now becomes: What's next for Venezuela? Who will lead Venezuela into a cartel-free future? Well, one obvious candidate is waiting in the wings to set up an interim government: Nobel Peace Prize awardee Maria Corina Machado.
Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, a 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, appears poised to take the place of ousted President Nicolas Maduro.
Corina Machado and fellow Nobel Prize winner Edmundo González could lead a transitional government in the South American country, according to an expert on Caracas.
“They have the support of 70% of Venezuelans,” Jorge Jraissati, president of the Economic Inclusion Group, told Fox News Digital. “They would lead this transition period.”
Maria Corina Machado, along with her colleague and 2024 candidate - and, arguably, the winner of the 2024 election - Edmundo González, seems perfectly positioned to lead an interim government. Ideally, they would only remain in place until new elections can be organized and carried out, but if the 2024 results are any indication, they would be the prohibitive favorites to win any such election. It would be a welcome move and would also have the favor of the United States.
The US recognized González as the country’s legitimate leader after he defeated Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin in the 2024 election. González ran in place of Corina Machado after she was banned from running by the Maduro-run high court. Maduro ignored the election results and remained in power.
Corina Machado has yet to comment on Maduro’s capture by US forces, but told Fox News Digital last month that “I am absolutely grateful to President Donald Trump for every gesture, every signal and every moment that he has stood with the Venezuelan people.”
One could make an argument for just installing Edmundo González as president for the remainder of the current term, since he actually won the 2024 election. But setting up an interim government and calling for new elections seems the better move, drawing a sharper, brighter line between the Maduro regime and what appears to be a new day in Venezuela.
So, what should an interim government do, besides getting things under control and organizing new elections?
First, squash the cartels once and for all. Maduro was and is a creature of the cartels. He not only allowed them to operate, but he also facilitated them. This is the time to wipe them out, and it seems pretty certain that, if asked by an interim government, the United States would be willing to provide intelligence and logistic assets to aid in this.
Second, ask for the removal of sanctions against Venezuela, so the country can start selling oil and conducting other trade on the world market. This seems like a no-brainer, and would also cut off a source of oil for some of the various rogue nations that the dark fleet was carrying oil to.
Third, make sure the military is firmly under the control of the interim government; that they are committed to Venezuela, not any one person. Any pro-Maduro elements in the Venezuelan military should be relieved forthwith.
Fourth and finally, run down the assets of the Maduro clan and seize them. It's a safe bet there are offshore accounts; start the process of returning those to Venezuela. Dictators like Maduro always have money stashed away; find it, seize it. Again, this seems like something the United States would be willing to help with.
It's a new day in Venezuela, and it will be fascinating to see what happens next - and to see the reaction of other Central and South American nations to Maduro's ouster. President Trump's new iteration of the Monroe Doctrine would seem to have scored its first major victory. There's no reason that Venezuela shouldn't be a prosperous, free nation, a model for the rest of South America; that's what any interim government should have as its overarching goal.
As of this writing, Maria Corina Machado has not yet commented publicly on the United States' removal of Nicolás Maduro. We await her input with great interest. Stay tuned, it's going to be a very interesting weekend.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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