Show of Force or Last Stand of a Declining Power?
, political scientist, politician The military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro caught the international community by surprise on the night of January 3-4, 2026.
By La Rédaction · Port-au-Prince · · 3 min read · Updated 24 April 2026
Translated from French — AI-assisted and reviewed by the editorial team. The French version is authoritative. Read the original · About our translation policy
The military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro caught the international community by surprise on the night of January 3-4, 2026. Conducted by the Delta Force, in coordination with American intelligence services and with the complicity of certain elements of Venezuelan counter-espionage, this operation initially demonstrates the United States' capacity to conduct missions of extreme complexity.
However, it also reveals, once again, that American imperialism pays little heed to the supposed respect for international law and the United Nations Charter, which nevertheless enshrines fundamental principles such as the inviolability of borders, respect for state sovereignty, and the non-use of force.
This operation can be analyzed in light of American President James Monroe's doctrine, enunciated before Congress in 1823, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary, which enshrines the principle that « America belongs to Americans ».
Venezuela, which holds the world's largest oil reserves in terms of deposits, began a process of nationalizing oil companies in the 1970s. With the advent of Chavism in the late 1990s, this orientation strengthened: American companies such as Chevron and ExxonMobil were progressively sidelined, while oil revenues were mobilized to finance social programs — construction of schools, hospitals, universities, and social housing for the most deprived populations. This occurred despite embargos and sanctions imposed by the United States, in a context where oil represented nearly 90% of Venezuela's budgetary revenues, and global oil prices were then on the rise.
After the death of Hugo Chávez in 2013, Nicolás Maduro inherited a particularly precarious situation, marked by the fall in global oil prices, the tightening of American economic sanctions, as well as a deep economic and health crisis in Venezuela. The United States is currently facing a multidimensional challenge to its power, whether economically, technologically, industrially, or geopolitically. This reality is notably analyzed by the French anthropologist Emmanuel Todd in his work The Decline of the West, where he demonstrates that the « Middle Kingdom » (China) and the « Bear » (Russia) now form poles of power capable of competing with, or even surpassing, the United States in several strategic areas. Todd particularly emphasizes that China and Russia today train more engineers than the United States, which gives them a decisive structural advantage in the scientific, industrial, and military sectors. He also highlights China's near-monopoly on rare earths and metals, which have become essential for the manufacture of advanced technologies and modern military equipment. Furthermore, according to this analysis, Russian weapon systems are distinguished by their efficiency, robustness, and cost-performance ratio, challenging traditionally accepted Western military superiority. Added to this is a growing presence of Russia and China in what Washington historically considers its “backyard,” particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, a situation perceived as unacceptable by the United States, given its hegemonic regional doctrine inherited from Monroe. Finally, the sale of oil in Chinese yuan, outside the dollar circuit, constitutes a major turning point: it weakens the petrodollar, a central pillar of American financial power for decades. This development fuels fears of a gradual weakening of the dollar, which remains one of the United States' last major strategic assets in the international system.
The capture of Nicolás Maduro is primarily part of a US effort to maintain its hegemony in Latin America, to the detriment of Chinese and Russian influences. President Donald Trump's statements following the operation further confirm this strategic interpretation. Beyond moralizing considerations presenting Maduro as a dictator — to the point that Stalin and Hitler might “turn in their graves” — he appears above all as the victim of a major political affront: that of having dared to stand up to a declining power, ready to do anything to try and reassert its dominance.
This American show of force occurs in a context where its hegemony is now counterbalanced by two major first-rate poles on the international stage: the Chinese Middle Kingdom and the Russian Bear, whose rise challenges the unipolar leadership exercised by Washington since the end of the Cold War.
Venezuela, which holds the world's largest oil reserves in terms of deposits, began a process of nationalizing oil companies in the 1970s. With the advent of Chavism in the late 1990s, this orientation strengthened: American companies such as Chevron and ExxonMobil were progressively sidelined, while oil revenues were mobilized to finance social programs — construction of schools, hospitals, universities, and social housing for the most deprived populations. This occurred despite embargos and sanctions imposed by the United States, in a context where oil represented nearly 90% of Venezuela's budgetary revenues, and global oil prices were then on the rise.
After the death of Hugo Chávez in 2013, Nicolás Maduro inherited a particularly precarious situation, marked by the fall in global oil prices, the tightening of American economic sanctions, as well as a deep economic and health crisis in Venezuela. The United States is currently facing a multidimensional challenge to its power, whether economically, technologically, industrially, or geopolitically. This reality is notably analyzed by the French anthropologist Emmanuel Todd in his work The Decline of the West, where he demonstrates that the « Middle Kingdom » (China) and the « Bear » (Russia) now form poles of power capable of competing with, or even surpassing, the United States in several strategic areas. Todd particularly emphasizes that China and Russia today train more engineers than the United States, which gives them a decisive structural advantage in the scientific, industrial, and military sectors. He also highlights China's near-monopoly on rare earths and metals, which have become essential for the manufacture of advanced technologies and modern military equipment. Furthermore, according to this analysis, Russian weapon systems are distinguished by their efficiency, robustness, and cost-performance ratio, challenging traditionally accepted Western military superiority. Added to this is a growing presence of Russia and China in what Washington historically considers its “backyard,” particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, a situation perceived as unacceptable by the United States, given its hegemonic regional doctrine inherited from Monroe. Finally, the sale of oil in Chinese yuan, outside the dollar circuit, constitutes a major turning point: it weakens the petrodollar, a central pillar of American financial power for decades. This development fuels fears of a gradual weakening of the dollar, which remains one of the United States' last major strategic assets in the international system.
The capture of Nicolás Maduro is primarily part of a US effort to maintain its hegemony in Latin America, to the detriment of Chinese and Russian influences. President Donald Trump's statements following the operation further confirm this strategic interpretation. Beyond moralizing considerations presenting Maduro as a dictator — to the point that Stalin and Hitler might “turn in their graves” — he appears above all as the victim of a major political affront: that of having dared to stand up to a declining power, ready to do anything to try and reassert its dominance.
This American show of force occurs in a context where its hegemony is now counterbalanced by two major first-rate poles on the international stage: the Chinese Middle Kingdom and the Russian Bear, whose rise challenges the unipolar leadership exercised by Washington since the end of the Cold War.
