With the arrest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro on multiple federal charges, a can of worms has officially been opened. As usual, most of the media is missing (or hiding) the real story.

For decades, Latin America has been a key battlefield in the global communist advance, with Venezuela serving as one of its most strategic footholds. What began as a Marxist revolution cloaked in populist rhetoric metastasized into a narco-terrorist, Cuban- and Chinese-backed dictatorship that exported and funded chaos, drugs, subversion, and revolution throughout the hemisphere. America is the ultimate prize.

Maduro’s regime, through drug trafficking and theft of oil, was basically the cash cow for the dangerous communist network known as the “São Paulo Forum,” taking over the region like a red tsunami.

Founded in 1990 by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva (then a community organizer, now “president” of Brazil), the Marxist narco-terror group FARC in Colombia, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and others, the goal was always to enslave the region.

As a puppet regime of Cuba (itself a puppet of the Soviet Union, a regime brought to power and built up by the Deep State), Caracas became a key hub for communist infiltration aimed at undermining liberty, sovereignty, and ultimately the United States itself.

With Cuban help and direction, Venezuela also became the global center for developing tools and technologies to steal elections. There is no doubt that this was on Trump’s mind.

Maduro and Hugo Chavez before him were also deeply involved with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Islamic regime ruling Iran, and other dangerous forces.

As U.S. National Security Council Director of Policy and Planning Rich Higgins warned in 2017, the communist, socialist, Islamist, and globalist alliance seeks to destroy the United States—not just as a nation but as an ideal.

These subversive forces in Latin America have long been backed by the “Deep State” in the United States. Barack Obama, Joe Biden, George Soros, and others have all aided and abetted the Sao Paulo Forum’s machinations, as have operatives within the State Department and the intelligence community.

Against that backdrop, President Trump’s “Operation Absolute Resolve” was not merely a military strike or law enforcement operation; it was a frontal challenge to the dangerous global networks that have been tightening their grip on Latin America (and the US) for a generation.

The operation was executed flawlessly. Whether it was wise or constitutional is another question entirely that will be debated for months, if not years.

There were obvious similarities to the capture of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Law Professor Nicholas Creel at Georgia College and State University argued that the prosecution should have a slam-dunk case.

“Like Noriega, Mr. Maduro faces federal drug-trafficking charges. Like Noriega, he was captured through military operations conducted without congressional authorization. Like Noriega, he’ll surely argue head-of-state immunity and unlawful seizure,” said Creel. “But unless the courts are willing to upend clear precedent, none of these defenses will save him.”

Across Miami and the Venezuelan diaspora, the 12 million victims of the regime forced to flee their country celebrated Trump’s actions. But at the United Nations Security Council, the CCP and even some U.S. allies condemned the operation as a violation of “international law.”

It remains to be seen what comes next, as Trump says the U.S. will “run” Venezuela for now.

Venezuelan “Vice President” Delcy Rodriguez claimed Maduro was still president, blasting the “kidnapping” and claiming it had a “Zionist tinge.”

Even some Trump supporters were less than enthusiastic. One key concern: There is certainly no shortage of powerful, dangerous, and subversive criminals on the loose in America who remain free.

But Trump has already indicated that other Latin American criminals in government—especially Colombia’s out-of-control Marxist leader Gustavo Petro, brought to power by Obama, Soros, and friends—could be next.

“President” Petro, a “former” terrorist, recently lost his U.S. visa for publicly telling U.S. troops to disobey President Trump and “stand with humanity” while in New York City for the UN General Assembly.

Analysts and Trump himself suggested that the operation against Maduro also represented a dramatic reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine, the foreign policy articulated by President James Monroe. It holds that the U.S. government rejects attempts by foreign governments to impose their subversive ideologies, systems, or controls in the Western hemisphere. For nearly two centuries, that doctrine served as a clear warning that the U.S. government did not approve of foreign empires meddling in or dominating the Americas.

Editor’s Note: An Anti-Christian Regime

The decision from the Trump Administration to carry out its operation in Venezuela has not only struck a blow to communist dictatorships and narco terrorism, it is also viewed as greatly beneficial to Christians, who have been heavily persecuted under Nicolás Maduro’s Marxist regime.

According to the Family Research Council, “These past few weeks, Venezuela has been in the news as a narco-terrorist state, but in addition to that, it has become a territory where anti-Christian socialism violates the religious freedom of millions of believers.“

Upon the announcement of Maduro’s arrest, Franklin Graham, who serves as the President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and Samaritan’s Purse, applauded the operation.

“Thank you, President Donald J. Trump, for what you’ve done for the people of Venezuela,” Graham wrote. “The President is strategically working to protect our nation and better the lives of people around the world. He said in an interview this morning that illegal drugs flowing into the United States by ship is now reduced by 97%—that’s incredible, and we thank God!”

“He said that our country was previously losing 300,000 lives a year to illicit drugs. President Trump is trying to fix this tragedy and keep America from becoming like these countries that have been ruined by socialism, communism, corruption, crime, and drugs,” he continued. “Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse have worked for many years with churches in Venezuela—over 4,500 of them. Please pray for these congregations and ministers of the Gospel as they share the hope of Jesus Christ.”