In removing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power, the United States is attempting to not only destroy an anti-American nexus of drug smuggling and immigration but also reduce the threat from Russia and China. These two U.S. adversaries were among Venezuela’s biggest backers and had invested billions into the country:

• China is Venezuela’s largest creditor. A 2017 estimate suggests China holds more than $23 billion in Venezuelan debt.
• Russia agreed to restructure $3.15 billion of Venezuelan debt in 2017. Venezuela still owes Russia approximately $1.5 billion from state oil company payment defaults.

This is not counting the billions Russia and China have invested in Venezuela’s military and security apparatus over the decades. U.S. President Donald Trump now holds leverage on Venezuela’s ability to repay this debt, especially if he fulfills his promise to confiscate ownership of Venezuela’s oil fields on behalf of American oil companies.

• Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, estimated at over 300 billion barrels.
• Both Russia and China were major customers of heavily discounted Venezuelan oil.

Maduro’s government technically remains in power in Caracas. But the Saturday raid makes it clear that the U.S. now actively opposes its dealing with Russia and China. This demonstration of American power shows the U.S. is getting control of its own backyard back from foreign adversaries.

Since regaining office last year, President Trump has made American control over Latin America a priority. In the March 2025 print issue, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry commentated on President Trump’s pledge to regain control of another important part of the Western Hemisphere that is heavily influenced by Asia: the Panama Canal.

Delving into prophecies in Genesis and 2 Kings, Mr. Flurry explained that this strategic “gate” was a gift from God that He took away from America because of its sins, but that God could return America’s influence in this part of the world through a national resurgence—not because of repentance of sin, but because of God’s mercy. He wrote:

China is gobbling up much of what belongs to America, and we are letting it happen. That is going to end to a great extent very soon, but only for a temporary time—unless we learn the lesson of fearing God!

Venezuela is not the Panama Canal. But it is extremely strategic territory right next door that China was also trying to take. Regaining influence in this crucial oil-producing nation on the Caribbean Sea—in a raid lasting less than four hours and incurring no American casualties—is still a massive blessing from God. But as Mr. Flurry elaborated, if America doesn’t turn wholeheartedly to God in thanksgiving, faith and obedience, this blessing will only be temporary. To learn more, read “How America Won and Lost the Panama Canal.”