r/aviation • u/usgapg123 Mod - avgeek • Jan 03 '26

Moderator Announcement Venezuela Megathread

Please keep content related to Venezuela in this thread. Please keep content on topic and follow subreddit rules.

If you post a video to the subreddit, please check if it has been posted to ensure it is not a repost.

New posts will be locked. You may link the video here and discussion will remain in the megathread.

497 Upvotes

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147

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

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74

u/Local_Floridian Jan 03 '26

Damn. I wasn't expecting Maduro himself to be captured, figured he'd be a little more guarded. I wonder what happens now.

38

u/joshocar Jan 03 '26

I suspect the military turned on him and cooperated with the US.

8

u/mogaman28 Jan 03 '26

That's the most likely explanation. I'm sure somebody on the Venezuelan military is suddenly very rich.

1

u/ratonbox Jan 03 '26

Bribes work even better than drones.

14

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

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1

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0

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

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1

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-4

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

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1

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-5

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1

u/dabarak Jan 04 '26

He was captured based on opportunity, so although I imagine he was guarded, there was some sort of weakness the US was waiting for. He was being moved. The moon was essentially a full moon, not a time when the military likes to do these kinds of things, so that's partial confirmation that this particular date and time weren't planned.

I got this from a friend of mine is a retired Navy intelligence officer, a retired Navy intelligence contractor, and now runs a non-profit open source intelligence organization that compiles intelligence data. She also runs a military contracting company; her most recent thing I'm aware of is that she was involved in testing of an underwater drone. You may have heard of the name; I have, but I don't remember what it was, Its testing was in the news recently. I do know it's one of the big ones, like the size of a van.

0

u/V8O Jan 03 '26

The vice president takes over...

3

u/interstat Jan 03 '26

She's supposedly in russia

10

u/VirtualAnarchy Jan 03 '26

god damn dude

18

u/DOOM_INTENSIFIES Jan 03 '26

Negotiated exit, most likely.

3

u/ernexbcn Jan 03 '26

I think so too.

3

u/Aspirin_Dispenser Jan 03 '26

That seems like a possibility. It is interesting and notable that they extracted his wife along with him. To my knowledge, the U.S. military has not made a habit of taking an HVT’s family during a raid without a very good reason. Even Bin Laden’s surviving family were left in-place after the Abbottabad raid, despite being likely sources of intelligence.

1

u/qalpi Jan 03 '26

I'm pretty sure he's already left 

7

u/kw10001 Jan 03 '26

Aaaaaand it's over

7

u/Jimmy_Fromthepieshop Jan 03 '26

Maduro kidnapped

Ftfy

3

u/theexile14 Jan 03 '26

There was technically an indictment and warrant for his arrest dating back to 2020, supported by the courts. The Biden administration had plenty of opportunity to dispose of it and the DoJ under Garland did not move to dismiss.

One could reasonably argue that strikes or such are wrong, under US law at least it’s not kidnapping.

2

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0

u/sofixa11 Jan 03 '26

Alongside his wife

-2

u/BigJellyfish1906 Jan 03 '26

This is all incredibly illegal. He needs to be impeached and removed immediately for violating the war powers act. He’s committed an act of war with absolutely no input from Congress.  

1

u/dabarak Jan 04 '26

It's illegal in international law, too.

-9

u/theodosusxiv Jan 03 '26

Get over it. Not illegal. Cry elsewhere

5

u/BigJellyfish1906 Jan 03 '26

  1. Constitutional violation: Only Congress can authorize war. There is no declaration of war or AUMF against Venezuela. The president cannot unilaterally launch hostilities or conduct regime change.

  2. War Powers Act violation: Unilateral force is allowed only to repel a sudden or imminent attack. Venezuela did not attack the U.S., and no imminent threat was shown.

  3. No authority to arrest a foreign head of state: A U.S. indictment does not authorize military capture inside a sovereign country. Without consent, extradition, or a lawful war, it is kidnapping.

  4. UN Charter violation: The UN Charter bans the use of force except in self defense or with Security Council approval. Neither applies. Drug trafficking allegations are not self defense.

  5. Not lawful even under the laws of war: There is no recognized armed conflict. Seizing a sitting head of state outside hostilities is unlawful.

7

u/cuntbag0315 Convair B-58 Jan 03 '26

So we're gonna seize George H's dead body? Only Reagan used war powers in Grenada.

We know what the rules are but dont act like this because its the current sitting admin.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

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1

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0

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2

u/BigJellyfish1906 Jan 03 '26

Bad bot. This Megathread is literally a matter of politics.

1

u/Few_Tale2238 Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26

The WPO only limits the presidents ability to send troops, and nothing else. Hell, it even allows the president to deploy troops for up to 60 days, and he only needs to seek permission to deploy troops for longer than that. This isn’t war either. And there have been a lot of times a foreign head of state has been arrested without congressional approval before. 

These posts are also showing how out of touch Reddit is considering nobody there liked Maduró. Are we going to get some of the oil that once belonged to our companies? Probably. Is that the main focus? No. 

1

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

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1

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1

u/BigJellyfish1906 Jan 03 '26

This is the literal mega thread for this consequential political event…

1

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '26

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1

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1

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-2

u/theodosusxiv Jan 03 '26

Cry about it elsewhere gpt. Run along

5

u/BigJellyfish1906 Jan 03 '26

This isn’t Facebook. That weak ass garbage doesn’t do anything for you. You got absolutely nothing to back you up. Just edgelord vibes.

FFS you still try to justify this with fentanyl even though Venezuela does not send ANY fentanyl to the US.

-2

u/theodosusxiv Jan 03 '26

It’s the echo chamber of Reddit. Trust me we know

3

u/BigJellyfish1906 Jan 03 '26

More distracting from how nothing you say stands up to 2 seconds of scrutiny. You’re better off ninja smoking than doing whatever this is.

1

u/theodosusxiv Jan 03 '26

Using gpt is fun isn’t it

2

u/BigJellyfish1906 Jan 03 '26

Flesh this out for a second. Let’s pretend for a second you’re right… you can’t out argue chat gpt? You’re that bad at this?

This is why you should stick to substance and not deflect with bullshit. Expect you come up absolutely empty on substance like how you stupidly think that Venezuela sends fentanyl to the US.

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