New Mexicans across the political spectrum reacted swiftly and sharply Saturday following confirmation that U.S. forces captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a dramatic overnight operation in Caracas—an event that immediately ignited debate in Washington and reverberated throughout the Land of Enchantment.
President Donald Trump announced the successful operation early Saturday, stating that U.S. military and law-enforcement personnel worked in coordination to take Maduro into custody and remove him from Venezuela. The White House said additional details would be released later in the day. Reports from international outlets indicated multiple explosions in Caracas and the presence of U.S. special operations aircraft in the early morning hours, including the potential elimination of the Mausoleum of Hugo Chávez in Caracas.
In New Mexico, Democrat members of the state’s congressional delegation were quick to condemn the action as unlawful and dangerous. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández blasted the operation in a series of posts on X, accusing President Trump of misplaced priorities and misleading the public.
“Americans don’t want a military intervention in a foreign country—we want affordable healthcare and housing,” Leger Fernández wrote, arguing that the president acted without congressional authorization. While acknowledging that Maduro is “a dictator and narco criminal,” she accused Trump of hypocrisy, citing past pardons of drug offenders and claiming Republicans in Congress should be “outraged” by the lack of consultation.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury echoed those criticisms, asserting that the strikes were unconstitutional and demanding immediate congressional action. “The President does not have the authority to declare war or undertake large-scale military operations without Congress,” Stansbury wrote. She also amplified comments from Massachusetts Democrat James McGovern, who claimed the operation lacked public support and questioned the administration’s spending priorities.
As of Saturday morning, other prominent New Mexico Democrats—including Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, as well as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham—had not yet issued public statements.
Republican reaction in New Mexico was notably different. State Rep. John Block of Alamogordo, who is also the editor of the Piñon Post, celebrated the news on social media, reposting President Trump’s announcement and writing, “I LOVE THIS!!!!!” In another post, Block shared an image of Maduro’s capture alongside the comment, “2026 is the best,” signaling strong approval of the operation and its broader implications for U.S. foreign policy. He also criticized media coverage that appeared sympathetic to the Venezuelan regime, noting alignment with narratives pushed by U.S. adversaries such as Russia and Iran.
As details continue to emerge, the capture of Nicolás Maduro has already become a flashpoint in New Mexico politics—highlighting stark divisions over presidential authority, U.S. intervention abroad, and the balance between constitutional process and decisive action on the world stage. The drugs peddled into the state by the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang have taken the lives of New Mexicans.
President Trump did not declare war or begin large scale military operations Ms. Clueless Stansberry. He conducted a legal arrest of a drug dealer exactly like the USA did with Manuel Noriega on this same date many years ago. Stansberry is so stupid, so angry, so belligerent its embarrassing having her represent NM. why do democrats support drug dealers, drug deaths, and financial fraud in Minnesota ? As the people of Venezuela celebrate and wave the American flag democrats in the USA burn our flag and lament the loss of a drug lord. its unbelievable.
Ditto!
Spot on. Thugs are thugs are thugs. Our State democrats are a bunch of bafoons. Supporting drug dealers and dictators is wrong. Stansberry and her followers are idiots and need to be voted out. I’ll help do it.
Watching their Dark money disappear. Lots of room between Noriega and El Chapo.
Kudos to President Trump for removing Maduro from Venezuela. Next mission for President Trump: remove all democRATS from the New Mexico legislature.
That would be wonderful, but remember that oppressed vote in their oppressor over and over again. Why did Keller get voted in again for mayor of Albuquerque?? Because people here in NM are so complacent and vote with blinders on their eyes. Sad but true… Let us keep praying for the legislature here in NM changes and that neither of the Democraps aka demorats are voted into the office of Governor… God have mercy.
All the numbers seem to support Trumps ongoing assault on drug trafficking and American deaths by overdose have dropped substantially. The quote I liked was that “money should have been spent on making healthcare more affordable” by giving democrats funding from the medical malpractice lawyers. New Mexico Democrats are great at attacking Trump and not so good at attacking crime or medical costs as witnessed by their lack of joining the republicans in their good plans to lower costs and crime rates. P.S. Democrats, why are we spending hundreds of millions on reviewing Epstein files (all of which you could have done when you were in power) instead of trying to correct all the flaws in your Obama care laws?
Who are the people chosen to run Ven now?
@Todd…and use Delta force with black helicopters at midnight to do it… that aught to really freak out the left liberal insane he-she-its-trans friggin mental health challenged muppets…
@shamank… far as I recall, there was a previous election in what 2024? The vote total Winner was never published…
Try starting there.
New Mexican politicians are TRASH. They love to let illegals in to drug deal, traffic humans, and murder AMERICAN PEOPLE. They would literally would rather let us DIE than to side with Trump. That’s f*cking insanity at it’s finest. I hope they all burn in hell for eternity for what they’ve done and continue to do to New Mexico.
Happy New Year, Maduro!
What say you, Gabe Vasquez?
The democraps voted in here are money hungry. They do t care anything about doing there jobs that the people voted them to do. It’s all about them selves. Money ,drugs, murder ,rapes money in there pockets. Just like Epstein having a huge ranch here.why cause child trafficking makes money.Now Trump is doing great work cleaning up the shit show and the dems are mad. GET OVER IT
Make Venezuela Great Again
Cuba is next. Rubio has got his sights on them. 😁🇺🇲👍
Do you believe the libtards are defending this?
🤔🤔
Venezuela’s Murderous Regime
The death toll is shockingly large. Security forces “killed 5,287 people in 2018 and another 1,569 by mid-May of this year, in what are officially termed by the Venezuelan government ‘Operations for the Liberation of the People.’” The campaign of cold-blooded mass murder is made worse by the government’s cynical, Orwellian euphemism.
The UN document concludes that the actual number of killings may be even larger, noting that some independent reports put the total extrajudicial executions for “resistance to authority,” at well over 9,000. That higher number would come as no surprise to opponents of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Critics have alleged for years that forces loyal to Maduro and Chavez have kidnapped, tortured, and murdered political adversaries.
Those congress critters are pissed because they are not going to get ‘their cut’ of the drug money any longer. Pobrecitas
THE DEMOCRATS LOST THERE INCOME OF KICK BACKS FROM DRUG DEALERS AND THE DEMOCRATS WHO REASENT NEW MEXICO ARE CAUSE OF ALL DURG DEALES AND THE KICK BACKS
Thank you , President Trump and our
great military.
Funny…these are the folks who said nothing about us loosing our 1A, 2A and 4A rights during the p(l)andemic
What NM State officials Congress and Senate where receiving Kick Backs
From Maduro???
stansbury will be holding a rally at the huge subaru dealership for madura in her full sesame street glory..big bird will attend to pass out resist, coexcist, eat the rich and praise allah bumper stickers…you can also contribute to the mangione deffense fund
All of this wailing and gnashing of the teeth by the democrats prove that they are deeply concerned about the pipeline of kickback money and cocaine drying up. Over 60 senators are on the list of taking money from Maduro. They should all be tried for treason, same goes for the House. By the way all 5 of the idiots from NM are on the list. If you take money from ANY foreign country you are working for them! All of you are a complete disgrace.
All this is pointing to the probability that the Democrats are on the verge of being totally exposed, and will be overwhelmingly thrown out across the country because of their overwhelming corruption (as well as a lot of Rhinos). Cartels buying off politicians, taxpayers monies stolen through NGO’s, and especially the rape of the U.S. voting system (even across the world) to bring down America and make way for globalism — is all coming to light. Dark to light. Bye-bye corrupt democrats. The 2026 midterms may just be their final end. — Pray.