UNITED NATIONS: A deepening political realignment across Latin America came into focus over the weekend at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and sharpened further Monday at the United Nations Security Council, where governments publicly split over the U.S. role in the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.
At CELAC, several leftist governments attempted to push through a joint statement condemning Maduro’s detention. The effort failed after a bloc of countries consisting of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago blocked consensus, preventing the regional body from issuing a unified defense of the Venezuelan leader, Donald Trump and framing Maduro’s capture as a decisive blow against organized crime.
"The Government of the Argentine Republic values the decision and determination demonstrated by the President of the United States of America and his government, and the recent actions taken in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro, leader of the Cartel of the Suns," Argentina’s representative Francisco Fabián Tropepi told the council, adding the Maduro regime "has not only constituted a direct threat to the citizens systematic violation of human rights in the state appropriation of the country's resources and destruction of democratic institutions, but also to the entire region by leading and exploiting its networks of drug trafficking and organized crime."
Paraguay echoed that framing, claiming Maduro’s continued presence "was a threat to the region," adding that "the removal of the leader of a terrorist organization should immediately lead to the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela, making it possible for the will of the people, expressed at the ballot box, to become the foundation for the country’s reconstruction," its representative Marcelo Eliseo Scappini Ricciardi said.
Other CELAC members took the opposite view, condemning the U.S. action and warning that it set a dangerous precedent.
Brazil "categorically and firmly" rejected what it called armed intervention on Venezuelan territory, describing the capture of Maduro as "a very serious affront to the sovereignty of Venezuela and an extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community."
Maldonado described Maduro’s capture as a break with decades of U.S. restraint in the region, "It shows that the United States is deadly serious about defending itself and the hemisphere, about stopping the flow of drugs, dismantling cartel-state alliances and about fighting back against the influence of China, Russia and Iran in our neighborhood."
She argued that the regional reaction, split though it is, reflects a broader ideological shift.
"There is a clear rightward shift underway in the region, and it is a healthy one," Maldonado said. "It reflects a growing alignment around the core principles of freedom, liberty, personal responsibility, national sovereignty and prosperity."
While critics at the U.N. warned that U.S. action risks undermining international law, supporters argue the status quo had already collapsed under the weight of Venezuela’s humanitarian and security crisis.
"Venezuela’s collapse has taught the region what happens when the state becomes your everything," Maldonado said. "When the state controls your job, your housing, your healthcare, your education, your courts and your information, freedom becomes conditional."