Washington’s Venezuela Strategy After Maduro, With Will Freeman

The President’s Inbox

Council on Foreign Relations

Politics, News:politics, News

4.4 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Will Freeman, fellow for Latin America studies at the Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the consequences of the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Mentioned on the Episode: Antonio Maria Delgado, ”The U.S. Gamble on Chavismo: How a Once-Unthinkable Pact Could Stabilize Venezuela,” Miami Herald Will Freeman, “The Shock Waves of Venezuela: How Maduro’s Capture Could Transform Latin America,” Foreign Affairs Jason Lange, ”A Third of Americans Support U.S. Strike on Venezuela, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds,” Reuters For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/washingtons-venezuela-strategy-after-maduro-with-will-freeman Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Following explosions in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, hours of silence from Washington
0:08.3	are suddenly broken by an announcement.
0:10.6	President Trump says the U.S. carried out large-scale strikes on Venezuela overnight.
0:15.5	Announcing that the U.S. has captured Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro.
0:19.6	Flying him out of the country with his wife.
0:21.6	The world quickly learns of the U.S. military's operation absolute resolve
0:26.6	in that Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro is in custody inbound for New York.
0:35.6	Around the world, many Venezuelans celebrate the downfall of a dictator, while others protest
0:40.7	the U.S. action and condemn the incursion into their country.
0:47.4	So we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious
0:53.3	transition. After tapping U.S. Cabinet
0:55.4	members to oversee Venezuela's government, current Venezuelan officials in Caracas denounced
1:00.6	Trump's statement, raising questions as to the future of Venezuela's political future, its resources,
1:06.3	and its sovereignty. From the Council on Foreign Relations, welcome to the president's inbox. I'm Jim Lindsay.
1:14.6	Joining me for today's discussion is Will Freeman, fellow for Latin American studies,
1:19.5	here at the Council on Foreign Relations. Will, thank you very much for joining me.
1:23.7	My pleasure. Well, I think it's safe to say that most people were surprised to wake up Saturday morning, Washington time, and to hear the news of the U.S. rendition of Nicholas Maduro.
1:35.0	Obviously, it was a very successful military operation, so a tactical success.
1:40.8	People can debate the legality of what was done.
1:43.7	But I think the big question a lot of people
1:45.8	are struggling with is what comes next? President Trump in his press conference on Saturday
1:52.2	talked about a transition. He did not say a transition to what or when the transition would
	...

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