The extraction of Nicolás Maduro from the presidential palace in Caracas on January 3, 2026, by United States forces sent shockwaves far beyond Latin America. The operation, confirmed by US officials, saw Maduro and his wife taken into US custody and later brought to face federal charges in New York — an unprecedented removal of a sitting head of state by foreign military power. For Africa, this should not be regarded merely as a Venezuelan problem or an episode of American unilateralism. It is a warning about how modern states can collapse wh
