If you believe that President Donald Trump’s ruthless, mercenary and illegal pursuit of Venezuela (with whom we are not at war) and Nicolás Maduro is all about Venezuelan oil, you would be right. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, significantly more than either Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Canada or Kuwait. Mention of those other nations shouldn’t surprise any reasonably informed American. Nor should the fact that the U.S., when under the control of Republicans, has involved itself in conflicts with or about each of these nations.
It’s all about oil, baby, and Trump’s order to kidnap and remove Maduro from power, besides being illegal, was intended to change the regime there. Another person gets to rule who will open the (oil) floodgates to American oil companies’ exploitation of Venezuela’s reserves. (Big oil gave $445 million to Trump and Republicans during the 2024 election cycle.)
— David Kahn, Boca Raton, Florida
Chance at democracy
I thank our commander in chief, Donald J. Trump, for ordering strong military action to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro suppressed the people of his own country, rigged elections, engaged in the drug trade and committed crimes against humanity. He posed as the president of the South American nation. But in reality, Maduro reigned as a brutal dictator. It was necessary to remove Maduro from power, for the benefit of humanity.
I was thrilled to learn about the large-scale U.S. military operation in Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of Maduro. I hope that with his arrest, the people of Venezuela can now have a real chance of establishing a democratic society in their country.
— Tawsif Anam, Madison, Wisconsin
We’ve lost credibility
There is something profoundly wrong when a democratic nation invades another country based on manufactured or shifting pretexts. The United States has increasingly projected itself as a global bully, treating weaker nations as fair game for regime change by force — simply to assert power and dominance.
Ironically, the true long-term threats to human freedom come from authoritarian states such as North Korea, Russia and China. Yet by our own actions, we have weakened our moral standing and, in effect, encouraged and legitimized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s saber-rattling over Taiwan. When international norms are violated selectively, principles lose their force.
If and when such aggressions fully materialize, the United States will lack the moral and ethical authority to credibly object. A nation once viewed as a defender of democratic values now risks being seen by much of the world as just another power acting out of self-interest. That loss of credibility may prove far more damaging than any single foreign policy failure.
— Amar Davé, Ottawa
Afraid of the future
On Saturday, in the middle of the night, the Donald Trump administration invaded Venezuela, a sovereign nation, and kidnapped their president and his wife! The U.S. has no legal right to attack and invade another nation without provocation or to arrest their leaders and remove them from their country. This is unconstitutional and illegal under international law. Nobody is defending Nicolás Maduro. He is a horrible man, but that does not justify what the U.S. did. This is what dictators do, not American presidents.
We should all be very afraid and even more angry that our president is now acting like other tyrants in the world, with no oversight, no controls and no limits. We are looking more and more like Russia. Laws mean nothing to Trump or his administration of sycophants. Members of Congress, at least those loyal to Trump and not to our Constitution, are not doing their jobs. Congress did not authorize the action in Venezuela. Might does not make right.
Is this the country you grew up in, the country you want the next generations to live in? Trump and his cabal must be stopped now before our Constitution is forever destroyed and we become a dictatorship. We should all be afraid of what will come next.
— Cyndi Kehoe, Elk Grove Village
Assist for Venezuela
Nicolás Maduro lost Venezuela’s 2024 election for president and was the illegitimate leader of Venezuela, and what people seem to forget is that Chicago spent more than $400 million feeding and housing Venezuelan migrants fleeing economic collapse, hyperinflation and poverty. So I see no problem with the U.S. bringing him to justice for narcoterrorism.
Although we have no right or authority to take over Venezuela when it already has a legitimate elected president. Edmundo González won the 2024 election; we should help him develop the infrastructure to be able to pump the oil that would bring Venezuela out of poverty and make the country one of the most stable and secure countries in South America.
— Andrew Kachiroubas, Chicago
There are parallels
It is hard to see how the United States can negotiate an equitable peace in Ukraine, when President Donald Trump engineered, in Venezuela, what Vladimir Putin has justified in Ukraine.
This is getting more and more like Germany in 1939.
— Susan Haley, Oak Brook
More clarity achieved
Now that the U.S. has invaded Venezuela, we can better understand why President Donald Trump supports Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
— Tom Witte, Batavia
The nudge China needs
President Donald Trump’s invasion of Venezuela has other countries nervous that they will be his next target. But there is one ramification nobody has yet pointed out.
China has always declared that Taiwan is a part of mainland China. And just last week, China conducted a massive show of force near Taiwan, which it labeled “Justice Mission 2025,” escalating what many understand to be a prelude to an invasion.
Trump recently announced a multibillion-dollar deal to send to Taiwan a massive armament package, including high-mobility artillery rocket systems, howitzers and drones. Now that Trump invaded Venezuela, don’t be too surprised if Chinese President Xi Jinping uses this as a pretext to conquer Taiwan before that military package arrives.
— Charles Chi Halevi, Lincolnwood
And what comes after?
After reading about all of the meticulous planning and months of rehearsals for the forced removal of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, I’m inclined to wonder: Did anyone in the administration think to ask, “What happens on Day 2?”
— John McAuley, Glenview
The board’s platform
Seeing the editorial Monday morning (“A positive change for Venezuela but a diminishment of US moral authority for years to come”) has me reassessing my Tribune subscription. The editorial is littered with right-wing rhetoric such as “left-wing mayors howled” and “socialist mayors.” (Really, “howl”? I’ve heard coyotes howling but have yet to see a democratic mayor baying at the moon.) The Tribune Editorial Board sounds as if it is bereft of sound reasoning and adopts a more knee-jerk and MAGA-like response to important matters.
In this day and age when sound thinking cannot easily be found, I prefer to not spend my hard-earned money on a publication that uses its platform to “howl” at those with views different from its own.
— Bill DeMarco, Chicago
He showed us who he is
It started with the “Gulf of America.” He tried it out and tried it on. Y’all laughed and played along.
— Kathy Spotts, St. Charles
Madness needs to end
The madness of this presidency and administration cannot end soon enough!
— Mark C. Page, Tinley Park
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/06/letters-010626-venezuela-donald-trump/
