Colorado leaders praise, criticize military operation capturing South American leader

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis celebrated the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro via a military operation that captured and flew him out of the country early Saturday, even as other Democrats lambasted America’s action and expressed wariness about the U.S. embarking on “nation building.”

Republicans, meanwhile, lauded the action and said President Donald Trump is keeping Americans safe from drugs.

“Today is a moment to celebrate the ouster of the brutal socialist dictator of Venezuela, who has cruelly impoverished this once-prosperous country that sits on greater oil wealth than Saudi Arabia,” Polis said on X. “I join our fellow Coloradans who have suffered so severely from this thug in calling for a democratic Venezuela where freedom and opportunity can again flourish.”

Even as he praised the military action, Polis said it is “not at all clear what the plan actually is, or even who is in charge,” adding he is troubled by the “lack of Congressional oversight and engagement up to this point.”

He added: “It is crucial that the United States present a clear plan for what a transition to genuine democracy and self-rule entails, and involve Congress in planning next steps to help ensure stability and freedom for the long oppressed people of Venezuela. We cannot have a failed foreign policy misadventure; the Venezuelan people and region deserve better.”

In praising the capture of Maduro, Polis effectively joined Colorado leaders from across the ideological aisle.

“Maduro is being brought to justice to answer for the terrorism and drug crimes he has committed against the United States,” U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank, who represents Colorado’s 5th Congressional District, said on X.

“@POTUS is doing a tremendous job at ensuring America is safer from foreign drug lords who wish to inflict harm on our citizens,” he added, referring to the shorthand for the American president.

U.S. Rep Gabe Evans of Colorado’s 8th Congressional District said on X that Maduro’s capture “sends a clear message: the United States will not tolerate regimes that poison our people and threaten our national security.”

U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, who represents the 3rd Congressional District, expressed gratitude for the professionalism of the U.S. military and law enforcement personnel, while urging caution moving forward.

“At the same time, any continued U.S. military involvement must be narrowly defined, legally grounded, and coordinated with Congress. American strength abroad is reinforced by fidelity to the Constitution at home,” he wrote in an X post.

Across the political aisle, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, who represents the 6th Congressional District, recoiled at the prospect of “nation building” and demanded an immediate briefing from the White House.

“It’s true that Maduro is a brutal dictator. It’s also true that not every problem is ours to fix. But now this one is,” he wrote on X. “The Trump Administration repeatedly lied to Congress and the American people about Venezuela. Over and over, officials testified that this was not about regime change.”

He added: “Congress needs an immediate briefing on the Trump Administration’s strategy for the day after. Donald Trump has already done incalculable damage to America’s reputation. We have to prevent this from spiraling into another nation-building disaster.”

Rep. Joe Neguse, who represents Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, called the administration’s action “blatantly unconstitutional” in a post on X.

“If Congress does not begin reasserting itself — immediately — our constitutional order will be permanently transformed,” he wrote.

In a statement, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet called Maduro “an illegitimate, brutal leader who lost, and then stole, the 2024 elections.”

He also wrote that he had seen “no evidence justifying” the Trump administration’s actions without congressional approval.

“I certainly have seen no justification for putting U.S. troops on the ground to ‘run the country’ or rebuild and exploit Venezuela’s oil infrastructure for our own economic purposes,” he wrote.

U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper echoed that sentiment, wroting on X that the president had “launched a war in Venezuela.”

“A president pursuing regime change abroad creates an unnecessary conflict and puts American service members directly in harm’s way,” he wrote.

Maduro and his wife, taken overnight from their home on a military base, were aboard a U.S. warship on their way to New York, where they would face criminal charges, U.S. authorities said. The U.S. is now evaluating next steps for Venezuela, Trump said Saturday on Fox News.

“We’ll be involved in it very much,” he said. “We can’t take a chance in letting somebody else run and just take over what he left.”

In his statement, Polis said it’s a time of “great uncertainty, promise, and peril across dangerous political terrain as the regime’s Vice President and Minister of Interior seek to retain power with violence and repression.”

The governor said that in 2024, Venezuelans overwhelmingly elected as their president Edmundo González Urrutia of the Unity Democratic Platform, who succeeded the party’s candidate María Corina Machado after she was disqualified from running.

“Now is the time for President-elect González to receive the support he deserves from the U.S. in cooperation with the international community and the people of Venezuela to assume his rightful place and powers as president,” Polis said. “Venezuelans deserve to determine their own future and select their own government. Today, I stand with the Venezuelan people in Colorado and in Venezuela.”

The governor said he anticipates demonstrations for or against Maduro’s capture, adding he respects everyone’s right to demonstrate and asks people to remain peaceful.

The legal authority for the attack, which echoed the 1990 U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of leader Manuel Antonio Noriega, was not immediately clear. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro, who last appeared on state television Friday while meeting with a delegation of Chinese officials in Caracas.

Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, accusing them of a role in narco-terrorism conspiracy.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” Trump said the couple were aboard the U.S. warship Iwo Jima and headed to New York.

This is a developing story. The Associated Press contributed to this article.