The Venezuela Symposium
What’s next for Venezuela, Latin America, and the United States?
On the night of January 3, 2026, United States armed forces penetrated the security perimeter surrounding Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and arrested him and his wife, exfiltrating them to the U.S. to stand trial on various criminal charges. This action was flawlessly executed by America’s military and eliminated, in one movement, one of the most anti-American political leaders in the Latin American region. The Maduro regime was illegitimate, having defied the results of a national election in July 2024, which clearly selected Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia to be the president of Venezuela. Socialist to the core, the regime was part of a decades-long effort to cement collectivism in a formerly thriving country that had been transformed under the strains of Hugo Chavez and Maduro’s immiserating reign of Marxist thuggery. Maduro had also given China operating room in Venezuela, a staging ground for Sino-politics on the continent, marginalizing American efforts in the region.
What’s next for Venezuela, Latin America, and the United States? There has been no clear regime change in Venezuela, nor any push for democracy, the rule of law, or markets. We have heard a great deal about oil, though. Does America have any coherent plan, grounded in democracy and the rule of law, beyond regime influence? What about the Venezuelan opposition and its desire to supplant the new ruling government? We have assembled eight Latin American contributors to discuss these questions and more.
Contributors:
Luis Antonio Orozco Castro “The Paradoxes of Liberty in the Age of the Shackled Leviathan”
Raul Howe “Slavery in Latin America in the Twenty First Century”
Rodrigo Barcia Lehmann “What Justifies Trump’s Intervention in Venezuela”
Gonzalo Ordóñez-Matamoros “Venezuela Post-Maduro?”
Wagner Menezes “Donald Trump’s New Hemispheric Policy”
Alejandro Molina “Can Venezuela be Lifted from its Trap?”
Juan Martín Morando “Nicolás’ Last Dance”
Oscar Sumar “The Fragility of International Law”
Politics
National Civitas Institute Poll: Americans are Anxious and Frustrated, Creating a Challenging Environment for Leaders
The poll reveals a deeply pessimistic American electorate, with a majority convinced the nation is on the wrong track.
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Liberal Democracy Reexamined: Leo Strauss on Alexis de Tocqueville
This article explores Leo Strauss’s thoughts on Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1954 “Natural Right” course transcript.
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Long Distance Migration as a Two-Step Sorting Process: The Resettlement of Californians in Texas
Here we press the question of whether the well-documented stream of migrants relocating from California to Texas has been sufficient to alter the political complexion of the destination state.
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Who's That Knocking? A Study of the Strategic Choices Facing Large-Scale Grassroots Canvassing Efforts
Although there is a consensus that personalized forms of campaign outreach are more likely to be effective at either mobilizing or even persuading voters, there remains uncertainty about how campaigns should implement get-out-the-vote (GOTV) programs, especially at a truly expansive scale.
California’s Green Policies Destroy Blue-Collar Jobs
The problem here lies not with racism, or lack of reparations, as Newsom and “progressives” insist, but with their own policies, which devastate minority communities.
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Oil, War, and Peace
The deeper question about these matters is why the energy crunch had to occur at all.
Iran and the Laws of War
The Iran war gives the United States the opportunity to re-formulate the rules of war, not to fight the old conflicts of the twentieth century.
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