Goodbye Maduro

The Libertarian Party UK notes the removal of Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela with acknowledgement of the immense suffering his regime has inflicted on the Venezuelan people. Maduro presided over hyperinflation, expropriation and destruction of private enterprise, systemic corruption, political repression, arbitrary detention, torture of opponents, and the violent crushing of peaceful protest, driving millions to flee shortages of food, medicine, and basic services. We unequivocally condemn him as a communist dictator and recognise that many Venezuelans have long sought his departure.

We also note that Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei, has publicly welcomed the news of Maduro’s reported capture, consistent with his longstanding description of Maduro as a “criminal dictator” and his solidarity with Venezuelans suffering under Chavismo.

At the same time, enforced regime change by external military force raises serious concerns of principle and precedent. This is all the more striking given that President Trump campaigned on a promise of “no more wars”, a pledge difficult to reconcile with intervention that removes a foreign government by force. Venezuela’s vast oil reserves cannot be ignored in assessing motives, particularly when other authoritarian regimes with dismal human-rights records and state-dominated economies remain untouched by comparable action. The danger is that interventions appear selective and interest-driven rather than grounded in a consistent doctrine of liberty. Such actions will also be read in Moscow and Beijing as confirmation of a renewed Western interventionism, adding fuel to great-power rivalry and providing justification for their own narratives and client-state security arrangements.

It is at present unclear who should be regarded as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Edmundo González, the opposition’s consensus candidate in the 2024 election, is widely claimed by the opposition to have won that contest before it was subverted. María Corina Machado, the leading liberal-opposition figure barred from standing by the regime, commands significant popular support and has long advocated a decisive break with Chavismo. Machado has called for Maduro to face an international tribunal rather than a United States court, rightly arguing that justice for crimes committed against Venezuelans is better conducted either by an impartial international process or, preferably, by a future independent Venezuelan judiciary operating under the rule of law, than being subsumed into the domestic politics of another state.

President Trump has also suggested that regime vice-president Delcy Rodríguez could remain in post if “co-operative”. Rodríguez is a self-declared Marxist and a senior member of the criminal Chavista system responsible for the very abuses listed above. The notion that she could be an acceptable custodian of a democratic transition is therefore untenable. It is likewise unacceptable that Trump has suggested that Machado “does not have the respect of the Venezuelan people”; such judgements properly belong to Venezuelans voting in free and fair elections, not to foreign leaders.

In an ideal world, Maduro would have been deposed from within, through Venezuelans’ own civic mobilisation, independent courts, and genuinely free elections. However, his removal is now a fait accompli. There must be the rapid emergence of a government chosen by Venezuelans themselves, respect for civil liberties, and a transition toward a peaceful, democratic, and free-market future.

We wish the people of Venezuela every success in achieving those aims.