Nicolás Maduro Moros

Rule Changes

Detained since January 2026, per Reuters

Venezuela's National Assembly voted unanimously on November 10 to let private companies generate and sell electricity, ending a state monopoly written into law in 2010. Concessions can run up to 25 years, and the law allows mixed companies with the state as well as wholly private operators. President of the Assembly Jorge Rodríguez said private parties could install plants, import power from a neighbor, and sell it to industrial and commercial users at a regulated rate.

Updated 2 hours ago

Money Moves

Captured by U.S. forces in January 2026

María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Oct. 25, and the U.S. has since laid out a sequence for presidential elections in 2027. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco on Nov. 2 to reaffirm a three-phase plan. It runs from stabilization and economic recovery to political reconciliation and a democratic transition.

Updated 2 days ago

Force in Play

Detained at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn; pleaded not guilty January 5; motions to dismiss set for November 17; trial set for June 1, 2027

Delta Force operators captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a pre-dawn Caracas raid on January 3, 2026. Maduro pleaded not guilty in Manhattan and is jailed in Brooklyn awaiting a June 1, 2027 trial, while Delcy Rodríguez remains acting president and has not set an election date.

Updated 4 days ago

Rule Changes

In US custody, facing five criminal counts

Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's former president, pleaded not guilty in a New York federal courtroom on October 15 to charges he conspired to torture political opponents. Judge Alvin Hellerstein entered the plea after Maduro twice refused to answer directly, calling the allegations “false accusations and false testimony.”

Updated Oct 20

Rule Changes

In US custody, facing federal charges including torture

The US Treasury removed Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela's National Assembly, from its sanctions blacklist on October 14. He can now use the US financial system and do business with American citizens for the first time since 2018.

Updated Oct 18

Money Moves

Removed from power in January 2026

After seven years as a federal fugitive, Colombian businessman Álvaro Pulido appeared in a Miami courtroom Tuesday and was ordered held in federal custody. He faces two indictments accusing him of laundering more than $2 billion stolen from Venezuelan government programs.

Updated Oct 14

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: In US custody, facing drug-trafficking charges

Venezuela freed 39 political prisoners over the weekend, the largest release since spring. The move came days after interim President Delcy Rodríguez met Donald Trump in New York, where she promised elections but gave no date.

Updated Sep 28

New Capabilities

As of July 2026: Abducted by US military operation on January 3, 2026; Delcy Rodríguez is governing Venezuela

Two weeks after the June 24 twin earthquakes, Venezuela's confirmed death toll reached 3,535 — more than double the figure recorded in the first days after the disaster. Most international rescue teams have withdrawn, leaving 29,567 Venezuelan military and security personnel and more than 27,000 volunteers to continue recovery.

Updated Jul 9

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: In U.S. custody; pleaded not guilty to narcoterrorism charges in Manhattan federal court

Hugo Chávez nationalized Venezuela's oil sector in 2007, expropriating assets from ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and other foreign companies. Nineteen years later, less than a month after U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's National Assembly passed legislation reversing that policy. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez signed it into law.

Updated May 26

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Held in U.S. custody, pleaded not guilty; defense team filed jurisdiction challenge on February 4; next hearing March 17, 2026

Congress hasn't declared war since 1942, though presidents have ordered 212 military strikes without formal declarations. On January 3, 2026, U.S. special forces raided Venezuela, captured President Nicolás Maduro in his residence, and flew him to New York to face narcoterrorism charges.

Updated May 22

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Detained at MDC Brooklyn; pleaded not guilty January 5, 2026; next hearing March 17, 2026

Delta Force dragged Nicolás Maduro from his bedroom at 2 AM on January 3, threw him on a helicopter, and flew him to the USS Iwo Jima bound for Manhattan. The Venezuelan president now faces narco-terrorism charges in the same courthouse that convicted El Chapo.

Updated May 19

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Indicted by U.S. for narcoterrorism, $25 million bounty

Trump confirmed the first known U.S. land attack inside Venezuela on December 30—a drone strike on a coastal dock allegedly used by the Tren de Aragua gang, with no one present when missiles hit. The same day, a U.S. strike on a boat in the Pacific killed two more people, bringing total deaths to at least 107 since September.

Updated May 18

Force in Play

As of May 2026: In US federal custody awaiting trial

The USS Gerald R. Ford steamed back into Naval Station Norfolk on Saturday after 320 days at sea, the longest US carrier deployment since the Vietnam War. The crew of 4,500 sailors fought in two combat operations, supported the capture of a foreign head of state, and lived through a 30-hour shipboard fire.

Updated May 16

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Denouncing U.S. actions as piracy; urging resistance while exports face new friction

The U.S. Coast Guard is now chasing a third Venezuela-linked tanker in international waters near Venezuela—under a judicial seizure order. Two other tankers have already been stopped in the past 11 days, including one dramatic helicopter boarding that the administration amplified on social media.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Denounces the CITGO sale effort; faces U.S. pressure and sanctions escalation.

CITGO has been the prize everyone can see, but almost nobody can touch. For years, a single U.S. sanctions lever has decided whether the PDVSA 2020 bond's "CITGO shares" collateral is a real hammer—or just a threat on paper.

Updated May 15

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Denounced the blockade threat; faces tightening U.S. pressure on oil exports.

Trump's Venezuela "blockade" threat is now backed by policy. Washington has added new Venezuela-linked sanctions and also targeted Iran's shadow-fleet network. Together, these expand the pool of already-sanctioned vessels that the U.S. Navy could board if they try to trade with Venezuela.

Updated May 15

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Clinging to power under deep sanctions, relying on shadow‑fleet exports and military mobilization.

A US Coast Guard team fast-roped from helicopters onto the supertanker Skipper off Venezuela's coast. Within hours, President Donald Trump was bragging in Washington that the United States had just seized one of the world's largest tankers and would likely keep the oil.

Updated May 11

Force in Play

As of May 2026: In U.S. custody facing narco‑terrorism charges in New York

On December 5, 2025, the Trump administration released a 33-page National Security Strategy declaring a Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The document formally revives the 19th-century idea of the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence and promises to reassert American preeminence across the Americas.

Updated May 10