RICHARD HAASS
NEW YORK – Nicolás Maduro is now the former president of Venezuela, a prisoner in US custody. His ouster at the hands of US Special Forces is, however, best understood as the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end.
To be sure, few in Venezuela, or anywhere, will mourn Maduro’s removal. He was an autocrat who stole an election, repressed his people, ran his country’s economy into the ground despite possessing enormous oil reserves, and trafficked in narcotics.
But that does not mean that this military operation was either warranted or wise. In fact, it was of questionable legality. It was also of questionable strategic value: Maduro hardly posed an imminent threat to the United States. Make no mistake: this was a military operation of choice, not of necessity.
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