By Hank Russell
The recent arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro became a political flashpoint among local elected officials. Some believed this was necessary to prevent deadly drugs from entering the country, while others believed that President Donald Trump overstepped his bounds.
On January 3, U.S. forces went into Maduro’s compound and captured him and his wife, Cilia Flores. They were arrested and, the next day, they were arraigned in a lower Manhattan federal court. He and his wife were charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and weapons possession offenses.
The White House posted on social media: “At my direction, the U.S. Armed Forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela…This was one of the most stunning, effective, and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.” – PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Rocky Point) supported Trump’s actions. “This will serve as a defining moment where America takes action to help secure its border and protect national security through what happened in Venezuela this morning,” he told News 12 Long Island. “His capture is a needed step towards justice for Long Islanders and my fellow Americans.”
Some disagreed. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer called the military operation “reckless,” adding the American people are paying “in terms of treasure” and “in terms of blood.”
“So, the American people are worried that this is creating an endless war,” Schumer said on a January 4 episode of ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. “The very thing that Donald Trump campaigned against over and over and over again was no more endless wars. And right now, we’re headed right into one, with no barriers, with no discussion.”
Trump pointed out that Schumer criticized him in his first term for “[not putting] an end to the Maduro regime.” Schumer was quoted on C-SPAN on February 5, 2020 as saying, “The Maduro regime is more powerful today and more entrenched today than it was when the President began.”
Garbarino called Maduro a narco-terrorist and an “illegitimate leader,” telling Newsday, “[He] will rightfully stand trial for facilitating the trafficking of deadly drugs across our borders that have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.”
While they agreed that Maduro needed to be stopped, Congressmembers Laura Gillen (D-Garden City) and Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) said Trump should have sought congressional approval.
“Maduro is a bad actor and stopping the flow of drugs into the United States is an important goal,” Suozzi told Newsday. “We must, however, comply with the law and congressional oversight.”
WKBW, a Buffalo TV station, asked Governor Kathy Hochul about the capture and arrest of Maduro. She said Maduro was “a horrible dictator” who “ruled with an iron fist and triggered a mass exodus of people.” However, she told Trump to fix the issues affecting Americans before he decides to “run” another country.
“I mean, have you solved the affordability crisis? People are still hurting in our own country,” she said. “Why are you taking on running another entire country? I don’t get it.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — who is running against Hochul this year — said that the governor’s quote of “flagrant abuse of power” was “a stunning defense of a narco-regime whose criminal enterprise has devastated New York families.”
“Let’s be absolutely clear,” Blakeman said. “Today’s mission was aimed at toppling Nicolás Maduro, a man U.S. authorities have accused of running a drug-trafficking regime that has flooded American cities — including New York — with lethal narcotics. Those drugs are killing our children and tearing families apart, and Kathy Hochul is more outraged by action against Maduro than by the carnage on our streets.”
Blakeman cited repeated cases in New York where foreign nationals, including Venezuelans arrested on drug, gang, and violent charges, were released pending trial under cashless bail, often over the objections of prosecutors — a policy framework he says emboldens criminal networks.
“These are not isolated incidents — they are a pattern,” Blakeman said. “Venezuelan drug rings push poison north, and New York’s broken bail system makes it easier for criminals to stay on our streets. That deadly combination exists because of failed leadership.”
“Kathy Hochul wants to lecture America about ‘abuse of power,’” Blakeman added. “The real abuse is forcing parents to bury their kids because fentanyl and other drugs poured into our state while politicians looked the other way.”