Operation Absolute Resolve, the U.S. military mission that resulted in the illegal kidnap of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, was carried out on January 3, 2026. This operation took place on the sixth anniversary of the assassination of Iranian Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike on January 3, 2020. At a press conference following the capture, President Trump explicitly linked the two operations, stating that both were high-profile actions ordered against major American adversaries.

In 2009, Venezuela, under President Hugo Chávez, was the first country to take formal diplomatic action against Israel by expelling its ambassador and eventually severing all ties in protest of the conflict in Gaza (Operation Cast Lead). In an interview with Le Figaro in September 2009, Chávez explicitly labeled Israel’s military offensive as "genocide" and an "attempt to exterminate" the Palestinian people. On January 5, 2009, Chávez described the situation in Gaza as a "holocaust," accusing the Israeli army of being "cowards" and attacking an "innocent people". Chávez called for then-Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and U.S. President George W. Bush to be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. This 2009 stance established the "anti-Zionist" foundation of Venezuela's foreign policy that continued under Nicolás Maduro. In late 2025 and early 2026, Maduro invoked this legacy to justify his vocal support for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ.

Venezuelans march en masse demanding the return of Nicolas Maduro. Last week, US Special Forces kidnapped the Venezuelan president, and have brought him to the US on spurious drugs charges.