Venezuelan PragerU contributor Franklin Camargo on Wednesday detailed to the U.S. Congress that the arrest of Venezuela’s deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro — long wanted by U.S. authorities on narco-terrorism charges — served American interests, emphasizing that it was justified and necessary for the security of the American people.
Camargo participated as a witness alongside Josh Blackman, professor of Law at the South Texas College of Law, and Gina D’Andrea, general counsel at the America First Policy Institute, in a hearing at the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight titled, “The Legal Basis for Action Against Venezuelan Drug Traffickers.”
The hearing, chaired by Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), saw members of Congress assess the legal basis for Operation Absolute Resolve, the U.S. law enforcement operation in Caracas, Venezuela, that led to the arrest of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on January 3. The subcommittee also examined the American strikes against Venezuelan drug-trafficking vessels in Caribbean and Eastern Pacific international waters that took place in recent months.
Camargo prefaced his testimony by stating that the Maduro regime accused him of “terrorism,” placing him at risk of arrest under the regime’s “Law Against Hatred,” a still-active dubious piece of legislation passed by the rogue socialists in 2017 used to unjustly arrest and accuse dissidents of hate speech. The law allows for up to 30 years imprisonment on “hate speech” charges.
“Today, the real terrorist, Nicolás Maduro, is behind bars,” Camargo observed.
“There are some here today who can testify to the legality of Operation Absolute Resolve. I want to testify to its necessity. Let me first explain why Maduro’s capture serves American interests,” Camargo said.
“The Chavez and Maduro regimes turned Venezuela from a long-time ally of the United States into a drug cartel. 250 tons of cocaine moved through Venezuela each year under the protection of the regime itself, otherwise known as Cartel de los Soles, Cartel of the Suns. 30,000 Americans die from cocaine overdoses every single year,” he continued. “That is why the Department of Justice indicted Nicolás Maduro in 2020 for narco-terrorism. ”
Camargo pointed out that drug trafficking is not Maduro’s only crime and explained to Congress that the Venezuelan socialist regime established an “official government conspiracy” of sending violent criminals to the United States “with a not-so-secret” goal to subvert America — among which were Tren de Aragua members responsible for numerous crimes, including the killing of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray.
“Make no mistake, this was not an accident. It was part of a deliberate regime strategy. Just ask Hugo El Pollo Carvajal,” Camargo said, referring to Hugo Chávez’s former spy chief who, in June 2025, plead guilty to narco-terrorism, weapons, and drug trafficking charges at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
“The head of Venezuela’s military intelligence revealed the truth about drug trafficking. It was not about making money,” Camargo explained. “Drugs were deliberately used as a weapon of mass destruction against the United States. Carvajal detailed the regime’s collusion with Colombian guerrilla Hezbollah terrorists and Cuban intelligence. In other words, one of the architects of the policy itself revealed the truth.”
“The ultimate goal was to destabilize these United States of America. That is reason enough to indict Nicolás Maduro, to capture him, and to bring him to justice. Anything less would have amounted to a dereliction of duty,” he continued. “American action in Venezuela, therefore, was not some rogue act of aggression. It was in defense of the sovereignty and security of the American people.”
Camargo emphasized that Maduro was not “kidnapped” but that he was a fugitive indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice and not the legitimate president of Venezuela. Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chávez at the head of the socialist regime in 2013 after he passed away from an undisclosed type of cancer, clung to power by holding fraudulent sham elections in 2018 and 2024.
He noted that, following Maduro’s arrest, he has never seen Venezuelans so optimistic about their country and explained that, if Venezuela becomes free again, it would benefit both Venezuela and the U.S. America would not have a narco-terrorist base within a short flight distance for Miami, and the U.S. economy would be stronger with Venezuela as an ally that no longer does businesses with China.
“The capture of Nicolás Maduro was not only justified, it was necessary for the security of the American people,” Camargo said.
Rep. Van Drew said that there is no question that drug supplies are down now after the arrest of Maduro and the strikes against drug-trafficking vessels at sea — stressing that, “maybe it’s a good thing to try to stop it when we can at the source.”
“What we do typically is we let it come in, people get very sick. They die. We spend billions of dollars trying to make them whole again. A whole lot of times it doesn’t work and it fails, and we have a permanent destruction of a whole class of people in our country, and it’s wrong,” Rep. Van Drew said.
“If you can stop these drugs, you know what Americans would think? Geez, if you can stop them at the borders before they come in, that would be a good thing,” he continued. “It’s also clear that he was indicted years ago, Nicolás Maduro, and we did nothing for five years. Why was that? Nobody can give me a good answer for that.”
Asked a series of yes-or-no questions by Rep. Van Drew, Camargo affirmed that the Venezuelan government under Maduro functioned as a criminal enterprise tied to drug trafficking networks. He testified that between 200-250 tons of cocaine were moved through Venezuela every single year under the Maduro regime’s protection, which made it one of the largest state-enabled drug trafficking operations in the Western Hemisphere.
Camargo stated that Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, is about 1,400 miles away from Miami. Lastly, he reiterated to Rep. Van Drew that, if a narco-terrorist regime operates that close to the U.S. it poses a “direct national security threat to the United States of America and to the American people.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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