NJ Reacts To Venezuelan President's Capture With Criticism, Praise

Was it a bold move against drug trafficking from a no-nonsense president? Or was it a “military invasion” and potential war crime that might bog the United States down in another 20-year war? Those are some of the reactions from New Jersey after last weekend’s high-profile capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were “captured” and flown out of the country.

The Trump administration has accused Maduro of trafficking narcotics and facilitating illegal immigration to the United States. He is now facing drug-trafficking charges in New York. READ MORE: Maduro Set To Make First US Court Appearance In NYC

Trump said the United States would run Venezuela at least temporarily, and will tap its oil reserves to sell to other nations. He has not said who will lead the nation when the U.S. cedes control.

Venezuela’s vice president demanded in a speech that the U.S. free Maduro, calling him the country’s rightful leader. Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President JD Vance has backed the move, saying that Maduro is the “newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says.”

Video footage has shown Venezuelans both celebrating and protesting Maduro’s capture.

• Related: US Plans To 'Run' Venezuela And Tap Oil Reserves After Operation To Oust Maduro

CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL

Some legal experts have raised questions about whether the operation – which took place without Congressional approval – was lawful.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, an Essex County resident, argued that Trump’s actions were “unlawful and unjust.”

“But just as glaring, and far more damning, is Congress’ ongoing abdication of its constitutional duty,” Booker said.

“Nicolás Maduro is a brutal dictator who has committed grave abuses,” the senator continued. “But none of that suspends the Constitution. Congress has the power and responsibility to authorize the use of military force and declare war. Congress has a duty of oversight. Congress must serve as a check, not a rubber stamp, to the president.”

“What happened [last weekend] is wrong,” Booker said. “Congressional Republicans would say so immediately if a Democratic president had done the same.”

The Green Party of New Jersey also put out a statement bashing the move, calling it an “act of military aggression” that defies international law. Party spokespeople pointed out that Trump recently pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was previously convicted of drug trafficking and had served only three years of a 45-year sentence.

“This alone confirms the falsity of the ‘drug cartel’ narrative,” spokespeople said.

However, according to U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew – a Republican from New Jersey – the Trump administration was justified in capturing Maduro.

“For years, Nicolás Maduro has helped fuel the poison drug trade that’s killing Americans and destroying families,” Van Drew said last weekend. “Emergency rooms and first responders are overwhelmed, and taxpayers are spending billions dealing with the fallout after these drugs are already here.”

“America has a responsibility to stop this poison at the source before more Americans are murdered,” the congressman added.

Other U.S. military operations – including the invasion of Panama in 1989 under George W. Bush and the operation to kill Osama bin Laden in 2011 under Barack Obama – were also done without specific approval from Congress.

PROTEST, SUPPORT FOR TRUMP

The seizure of Venezuela’s sitting president followed months of escalating pressure from the United States, which has been carrying out deadly military strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.

The boat strikes sparked a protest in Essex County on Dec. 30, when several advocacy groups held a rally in Newark decrying the Trump administration’s “dangerous escalation toward total war.”

Bob Witanek, the editor of FightBackBetter.com, alleged that the strikes are “demonstration killings” meant to show Trump’s willingness to “kill with impunity.”

Another activist, Paula Rogovin, compared the situation to the “weapons of mass destruction” claims that led up to the Iraq War in the early 2000’s.

“That was a fraud,” Rogovin said. “And because of those lies and because of that fraud, hundreds of thousands of people died. Millions of people were displaced internally in Iraq and or abroad outside of Iraq. Millions of people’s lives were ruined. And here we are again. Another war for oil.”

After Trump announced the capture of Maduro, the Newark-based Peoples Organization for Progress (POP) issued a statement condemning the “military invasion of Venezuela” and the “kidnapping of that country’s president.”

“President Trump attacked and invaded a country that did not attack the United States,” POP chair Larry Hamm said.

Hamm, a former U.S. Senate candidate, called the military operation an “act of aggression” and a “war crime.”

“Kidnapping and holding hostage that country’s president on trumped up drug charges is also a war crime,” he said. “Everyone knows that our attack on Venezuela has little to do with drugs and everything to do with oil, rare earths and valuable minerals.”

“Trump said that we wouldn’t have any more never-ending wars,” Hamm continued, referring to the president’s 2024 campaign.

“So, how long will U.S. troops be in Venezuela?” he questioned. “Will it be 20 years like Afghanistan? How much will it cost U.S. taxpayers?”

“We just went through a round of federal budget cuts that slashed billions from social programs,” Hamm said. “It never fails. There is never enough money to fund people’s needs, but there is always money for another war.”

• See Related: 2 NJ Senators Vote Against Colossal U.S. Military Budget Bill

Some supporters of Trump have pushed back on activists' criticisms about the future of oil in Venezuela, however, including the vice president.

“About 20 years ago, Venezuela expropriated American oil property and until recently used that stolen property to get rich and fund their narco-terrorist activities,” Vance argued.

“I understand the anxiety over the use of military force, but are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing?” Vance said. “Great powers don't act like that.”

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, also defended Trump’s decision to capture Maduro.

“Why we can’t just acknowledge that it’s been a good thing, what’s happened?” Fetterman said during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

Meanwhile, protests against the United States’ latest military action continue to mount across New Jersey, including rallies in Highland Park and Toms River. Another protest is scheduled for Wednesday in Teaneck.

“You don't have to like Maduro to say that it's not right to abduct a sitting president,” an organizer with the Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War said.

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