The Trump administration has taken unprecedented measures to increase the pressure on Venezuela’s repressive Maduro regime, which illegitimately maintained power despite losing the July 2024 election. The United States has doubled the bounty on Nicolás Maduro’s capture to $50 million, designated two Venezuelan criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, and deployed naval assets to the southern Caribbean to disrupt drug trafficking operations. Most recently, the US stationed 10 F-35 fighter jets and other assets in Puerto Rico.
Washington’s escalation is a response to the continued threat the criminal regime poses. Maduro’s Venezuela has emerged as Latin America’s greatest destabilizing force, serving as a major sanctuary for transnational criminal organizations, a critical node in international drug trafficking networks, and a strategic foothold for Russian and Chinese influence projection.
What does America’s show of force mean for its broader strategy toward Venezuela? Could sustained US pressure fundamentally alter the political dynamics within the regime? Can outside pressure sufficiently weaken Maduro’s grip on power? Join Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle and a panel of experts as they examine these questions.
Please join Hudson Institute for a fireside chat with Senior Fellow and Keystone Defense Initiative Director Rebeccah Heinrichs and John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and co-director of the Urban Warfare Project.
Join Hudson Institute and the Ben Franklin Fellowship for a two-panel discussion examining US policy as it confronts the crisis of terror in Nigeria.
Join Hudson Institute's Center for the Economics of the Internet for a keynote address given by Tricia Paoletta on the Trump administration's progress in managing and reallocating the electromagnetic radio frequency spectrum from the federal domain.
Join Hudson Institute for a discussion with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Senior Fellow Harold Furchtgott-Roth.
