With capture of Maduro, Trump claims successful operation as he treads into uncharted territory
Washington (AP): With the capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump and his allies are calling the audacious military operation a major success as the US leader once again demonstrated a willingness to use US forces for risky missions that come with a potential big payoff.
The operation has ousted a South American strongman blasted by Trump's administration as an “illegitimate” dictator and a “narco-terrorist," a scourge responsible for a steady of stream of illegal drugs poisoning US and Europe.
“It was a brilliant operation, actually," Trump told The New York Times shortly after US forces were cleared from Venezuelan airspace.
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But the path ahead could certainly be treacherous as the White House faces a series of difficult questions.
Who will fill the power vacuum now that Maduro is gone? What lies ahead for a country that's endured years of hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages and brain drain despite its vast oil wealth?
What lessons will US adversaries take from Trump's decision to demonstrate American might in its sphere of influence as China's Xi Jinping vows to annex the self-ruled island of Taiwan and Russia's Vladimir Putin's has designs on neighbour Ukraine and diminishing NATO's eastern flank?
Trump takes a big risk
The operation to remove Maduro certainly marks another big moment for Trump's foreign policy in his second term, as he hasn't shied away from flexing US military might even as he has vowed to keep America out of war.
Trump has now twice used US forces to carry out risky operations against American adversaries. In June, he directed US strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites.
With the Venezuela operation, Trump followed through on a promise, spelled out in his National Security Strategy published last month, to assert US dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
More questions than answers
Retired Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery said the immediate path ahead for Trump in Venezuela could be more difficult to navigate than what he faced after the Iran strikes.
“Unlike the (Iran) strikes where Trump did the action and then said fights over,' he will not have that luxury here in Venezuela,” said Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, a hawkish think tank in Washington.
“He needs to stay engaged in Venezuela to make sure that Maduro's cronies — equally guilty of any crime he is — are also pushed out of power, and they may want to stay and fight as they don't have too many places to run.”
What's next for Venezuela?
European allies had expressed concern as Trump built up a massive presence of troops in the Caribbean in recent months and carried out dozens of lethal strikes on suspected drug smugglers — many that the administration claimed were effectively an arm of the Maduro government.
Maduro was hardly viewed as a choir boy by the international community. His 2018 and 2024 elections were seen as riddled with irregularities and viewed as illegitimate.
But many US allies greeted news of Maduro's capture with a measure of trepidation.
European Commission President Antonio Costa said he had “great concern” about the situation in Venezuela following the US operation.
“The EU has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas added on X. “Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected. We call for restraint.”
The criticism from some Democrats over Trump's military action to oust Maduro was immediate.
“This war is illegal, it's embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year.” Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona wrote on X. “There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.”
Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned what it called a US “act of armed aggression” against Venezuela in a statement posted on its Telegram channel Saturday. The ouster of Maduro, who was backed by the Russians, comes as Trump is urging Putin to end his nearly four-year brutal war on Ukraine.
“Venezuela must be guaranteed the right to determine its own destiny without any destructive, let alone military, outside intervention,” the statement said.
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Capture follows months of pressure
The operation was the culmination of a push inside the administration led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other like-minded foes of Maduro who have been urging Trump to take action against the Venezuelan leader for years dating back to Trump's first administration.
In south Florida — the epicentre of the Venezuelan diaspora opposition to Maduro that has influenced Rubio's thinking — Saturday's operation was cheered as an era-changing moment for democracy.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican, said he had spoken to Rubio and thanked Trump for having “changed the course of history in our hemisphere. Our country & the world are safer for it,” he wrote on X, comparing Maduro's ouster to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Maduro had sought a pathway to exit from power, while saving face.
Venezuelan government officials had floated a plan in which Maduro would eventually leave office, The Associated Press reported in October.
The proposal, which was rejected by the White House, called for Maduro to step down in three years and hand over to his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who would complete Maduro's six-year term that ends in January 2031. Rodriguez would not run for reelection under the plan.
But the White House had rejected the proposal because the administration questioned the legitimacy of Maduro's rule and accused him of overseeing a narco-terrorist state.
Maduro earlier this week said Venezuela was open to negotiating an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking and work with Washington on promoting US further investment in the Venezuelan oil industry.
But Trump for months has insisted that Maduro's days in power were numbered.
Shorty after Trump announced Maduro's capture, the White House posted video on one of its social media accounts of Trump in October explicitly telling reporters that Maduro was feeling pressure from the US campaign and trying to cut a deal.
“He doesn't want to f—- around with the United States,” Trump said.
Elliot Abrams, who served as US special representative for Iran and Venezuela in the first Trump administration, said the president now must decide how invested his administration will be in shaping the next government in Caracas. Venezuela's opposition says the rightful president is the exiled politician Edmundo González.
“I think the real question is whether Trump will claim victory and be satisfied with Delcy Rodriguez making some promises or engaging in negotiations," Abrams said. “Or will he insist on Gonzalez."
Trump in an appearance on Fox & Friends on Saturday morning said he wasn't ready to commit to a certain leader but pledged his administration would be “very involved” in Venezuela.
“We can't take a chance of letting somebody else run it — just take over where (Maduro) left or left off,” Trump said.
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UP SIR draft voter list out: 12.55 crore voters retained, 2.89 crore removed
Lucknow/New Delhi (PTI): The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh published on Tuesday after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) excludes 2.89 crore voters but retains 12.55 crore, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa.
The 2.89 crore voters, or 18.70 per cent, of the 15.44 crore listed earlier could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations, he said at a press conference.
The final electoral list will be published on March 6, Rinwa added.
The opposition parties in UP have criticised the draft electoral roll after the SIR exercise.
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Talking to PTI Videos, UP Congress president Ajay Rai said the time allotted for the SIR exercise was short.
"This is a completely hasty decision. The way the SIR process was started by giving only one month in a large state like Uttar Pradesh is unreasonable.
"They gave one month even to a small state like Kerala. Uttar Pradesh should have been given at least five to six months, as was done earlier in 2002–03... Had it been done that way, the booth level officers (BLOs) would not have been under such pressure and suicides could have been avoided."
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav warned the Election Commission about the draft roll in Mainpuri, the Lok Sabha constituency of his wife Dimple Yadav.
In a post on X, the Kannauj MP and former UP chief minister said,"Before the anger of the voters turns into agitation, the Election Commission should correct the voter list by taking cognisance of the valid names cut from the SIR in Mainpuri."
Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sappal on Tuesday claimed that his name and that of his family members have been deleted from the draft SIR voter list of Uttar Pradesh despite their names being in the electoral roll of 2003 and them having deposited all required documents according to the guidelines.
Meanwhile, Rinwa said the EC had undertaken a door-to-door enumeration drive in which enumeration forms were to be filled out and signed by voters or their family members.
While the exercise was originally scheduled to end on December 11, the state sought an additional 15 days after noticing that the names of a large number of voters, nearly 2.97 crore, were getting excluded from the draft list. Consequently, the enumeration phase was extended till December 26.
According to the CEO, out of 15.44 crore voters in the October 27, 2025 electoral roll, enumeration forms were received for 12.55 crore voters, accounting for 81.30 per cent of the electorate.
Rinwa said December 31 was initially fixed as the publication date of the draft roll, but parallel fieldwork and ECI instructions to rationalise polling stations led to a delay.
"The Commission has capped voters per polling station at 1,200 instead of the earlier norm of 1,500. To meet this requirement, around 15,030 new polling stations were created across the state," he said.
Giving details about the removal of 2.89 crore names from the draft list, Rinwa said 46.23 lakh voters (2.99 per cent) were found to be deceased, while 2.57 crore voters (14.06 per cent) had either permanently migrated or were not available during the verification process.
Another 25.47 lakh voters (1.65 per cent) were found to be registered at more than one place.
"The draft electoral roll now contains 12.55 crore voters and covers all 75 districts and 403 assembly constituencies of the state," he said.
The exercise involved 1.72 lakh booths, with booth-level officers working alongside volunteers to reach voters. Rinwa also acknowledged the support of political parties, saying 5.76 lakh booth-level agents appointed by recognised parties assisted in the process.
The CEO said a one-month claims and objections period would begin on January 6 and would continue till February 6, during which voters can seek inclusion, correction or raise objections to the draft roll.
The EC also outlined clear remedies for eligible voters whose names do not appear in the draft electoral roll published after the SIR exercise.
Rinwa said enumeration forms were received from about 12.55 crore voters during the revision exercise conducted between November 4 and December 26, 2025. The remaining names were excluded primarily due to reasons such as death, permanent migration or absence during verification, and multiple registrations at different locations.
The Commission has opened a claims and objections window from January 6 to February 6, during which any eligible voter whose name is missing can apply for inclusion by submitting Form-6. Voters found registered at more than one place will be retained at only one verified location after scrutiny.
Voters can check their names in the draft roll through BLOs, the ECINet mobile application, the Chief Electoral Officer's website (ceouttarpradesh.nic.in ) or the Election Commission portal voters.eci.gov.in .
Applications can be submitted offline through BLOs or voter registration centres at tehsil offices, or online through the ECINet app and the ECI website.
He said special efforts are being made to assist senior citizens, persons with disabilities and marginalised groups, while youth who turned 18 by January 1, 2026, are being encouraged to apply. More than 15.78 lakh Form-6 applications have already been received.
The officer said no name will be removed from the electoral roll without following due process, reiterating its commitment to a transparent, participatory and inclusive revision to ensure that no eligible voter is left out.
However, Sappal claimed that his and his family members' names were deleted because he shifted residence from UP's Sahibabad constituency to Noida constituency.
