In Defense of ‘Pax Trumpiana’

The arrest and detention of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro could well be the beginning of a Pax Trumpiana, a new international order that will transform relations between nations. Under this new order, concepts of international right and wrong are based on both realpolitik and natural law theory, in which tyrants who usurp legitimate authority may be overthrown.  

The key facts regarding Maduro are twofold: first, that he is an indicted narcotics trafficker involved with well-known cartels and other noted miscreants. Second, that he wrongly hung onto power even by the laws of Venezuela, failing to leave office after his opponent defeated him in a presidential election.

There was no way, of course, that Venezuela would cooperate in an extradition with Maduro in power, even if it were so obligated by treaty. Accordingly, only an act of force by the United States could bring Maduro to justice. President Trump now needs to finish the job by aiding the installation of the actual winner of the last election. There is a good case to be made that would have been María Corina Machado, the leading opposition candidate before she was barred from running by the Maduro regime. In December, she escaped with aid from the U.S. military to Norway, where she won the Nobel prize for her efforts on behalf of Venezuelan democracy.

If Trump successfully begins a federal prosecution of Maduro and helps install a replacement government friendly to the United States, it is not inconceivable that Cuba—which is deeply dependent on Venezuelan oil and now may be cut off from that resource—could also undergo a regime change.