Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL) has introduced a resolution recognizing President Trump’s successful arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Giménez, who fled from Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba, called the operation to arrest Maduro “extraordinary.”
“This resolution recognizes President Trump’s extraordinary political courage in authorizing ‘Operation Absolute Resolve,’ an operation that dismantled a criminal narco–terrorist regime and upheld the rule of law,” said Giménez. “As someone who lived under communism, I know firsthand how devastating these dictatorships are to human dignity and freedom. This resolution affirms America’s commitment to freedom and holds authoritarian leaders accountable. The Venezuelan people deserve democratic self-determination free from tyranny.”
The resolution commends President Trump, “his administration, and the brave men and women of the Armed Forces, Intelligence Community, and Justice Department for the remarkable success of ‘Operation Absolute Resolve’,'” it reads. It goes on to state that the Maduro regime “systematically dismantled Venezuela’s democratic institutions, beginning with the usurpation of the National Assembly in 2015, the creation of an illegitimate Constituent Assembly in 2017, and the staging of a fraudulent reelection in 2018 that was declared illegitimate by over 50 nations.”
It further condemns the killings, torture, and terrorization of Venezuelans under the Maduro regime and “recognizes that dismantling the Maduro regime is a critical national security imperative to stop the state-sponsored flow of drugs that have flooded American communities and directly contributed to the drug overdose epidemic that claims tens of thou10 sands of American lives annually.”
Similarly, Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) voiced support for the Trump administration’s operation, calling it the “absolute right move.”
The Trump administration has argued that the capture of Maduro showcases the Alien Enemies Act. The filing, submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, asserts that the Maduro regime and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) created a “hybrid criminal state” that justifies the use of the 1798 wartime law.
