Expressing the sense of the Senate in support of Operation Absolute Resolve.

Expressing the sense of the Senate in support of Operation Absolute Resolve.

Whereas, between 2000 and 2013, Nicolás Maduro served in various offices in the Government of Venezuela, including in the National Assembly, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and as Vice President;

Whereas, on April 14, 2013, Nicolás Maduro came to occupy the office of President of Venezuela following the death of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and later through an election that was marred by irregularities;

Whereas, on May 20, 2018, Nicolás Maduro declared victory in a fraudulent presidential election in which major opposition parties and leaders were banned from participating and of which more than 50 countries, including the United States, refused to recognize the results;

Whereas, on January 23, 2019, the National Assembly of Venezuela refused to recognize Nicolás Maduro as President of Venezuela and named, as the Interim President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, who was so recognized by the United States and more than 23 other countries;

Whereas, on July 28, 2024, Nicolás Maduro declared victory in a second fraudulent presidential election, the results of which were not recognized by more than 50 countries, including the United States, the European Union, and numerous Latin American and Caribbean nations;

Whereas, on January 10, 2025, Nicolás Maduro held an illegitimate presidential inauguration in Venezuela, which was condemned by the Government of the United States;

Whereas, according to a March 2020 estimate by the Government of the United States, under Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela was a major transit country for cocaine shipments to the United States, South America, and Europe, accounting for 200 to 250 metric tons annually (or 10 to 13 percent of the estimated global production of cocaine);

Whereas the Department of State found that the Maduro regime “failed to make any meaningful efforts to stem drug production or trafficking and in fact created conditions that allow drug traffickers and other transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) to operate with impunity”;

Whereas drug trafficking in Venezuela enriched and empowered the family of Nicolás Maduro, including his wife, Cilia Flores, who took bribes to ensure safe passage of trafficked cocaine, and his son, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, who allowed state assets to be used in drug trafficking;

Whereas the Cártel de los Soles is a Venezuelan drug trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials who abused their positions in the Venezuelan government and military to flood the United States with cocaine and harm Americans;

Whereas, effective November 24, 2025, the Department of State designated the Cártel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization;

Whereas Nicolás Maduro helped manage and ultimately led the Cártel de los Soles as he rose to power in Venezuela;

Whereas Tren de Aragua is a transnational criminal organization, originating in Venezuela, which engages in mass illegal migration to the United States and commits brutal crimes, including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking, with the objective of harming United States citizens;

Whereas numerous members and leaders of Tren de Aragua have been indicted on murder-for-hire, drug trafficking, firearms, and other offenses within the United States;

Whereas, effective February 20, 2025, the Department of State designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization;

Whereas Tren de Aragua coordinated with, and operated in conjunction with, the Maduro-led Cártel de los Soles to flood the United States with cocaine;

Whereas the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) and its successor organizations, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army (FARC–EP) and Segunda Marquetalia and the National Liberation Army (ELN), control drug trafficking routes in the border region between Venezuela and Colombia;

Whereas the FARC was designated as a foreign terrorist organization on October 8, 1997, prior to its dissolution, its successor organizations, the FARC–EP and Segunda Marquetalia, have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations since November 30, 2021, and the ELN has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization since October 8, 1997;

Whereas the Department of State found the FARC, FARC–EP, and ELN maintained close ties to the de facto authorities of Venezuela and Maduro continued to give safe haven to these organizations;

Whereas the United States has imposed individual, financial, and sectoral sanctions on the Government of Venezuela, the Maduro regime, and its supporters, including by—

(1) prohibiting the Government of Venezuela from accessing United States financial markets beginning on August 24, 2017;

(2) establishing a framework on November 1, 2018, to block the assets of the Government of Venezuela in the United States in certain economic sectors;

(3) generally freezing the assets of the Government of Venezuela in the United States beginning on August 5, 2019;

(4) imposing Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions on September 12, 2024, and January 10, 2025, on numerous Venezuelan officials who enabled Maduro to maintain power despite his 2024 election defeat;

(5) imposing Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions on December 11, 2025, on nephews of Cilia Flores and others who engaged in deceptive and unsafe oil-shipping practices to provide financial resources to support the Maduro regime; and

(6) imposing Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions on December 19, 2025, on several additional family members and associates of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores for being complicit in, or directly engaging in, transactions that supported the Maduro regime;

Whereas, on June 11, 2022, Nicolás Maduro signed a 20-year cooperation agreement with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran designed to resist global sanctions against the 2 regimes;

Whereas Iran’s terrorist proxy, Lebanese Hezbollah, which has found safe haven in Venezuela, engages in drug trafficking, money laundering, and illicit smuggling to fund its terrorist activities around the world;

Whereas the Maduro regime was supported by Lebanese Hezbollah as a hub for transnational organized crime and international terrorism in the Western Hemisphere;

Whereas, beginning in 2006, the Secretary of State has annually determined that Venezuela has failed to comply with the first section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2781), which requires full cooperation with United States antiterrorism efforts;

Whereas the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party provided critical support to empower the Maduro regime to stay in power in Venezuela through the sale of Chinese military radar, riot control vehicles, and digital tools to control the Venezuelan people’s access to information;

Whereas the Russian Federation helped the Maduro regime evade United States sanctions, including through subsidiaries of the Russian state-controlled Rosneft Oil Company, which brokered the sale and transport of Venezuelan crude oil in 2020;

Whereas the Russian Federation both provided military equipment and sent its military personnel to lend support to the Maduro regime in an effort to increase its footprint in the Western Hemisphere;

Whereas the November 2025 National Security Strategy of the United States of America states, “We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere”;

Whereas, in 2020, Nicolás Maduro, Cilia Flores, and other Maduro regime officials were indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges including narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices;

Whereas, in 2025, a superseding indictment was filed in the Southern District of New York and both Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores remain under indictment and will have to answer for their crimes in a court of law;

Whereas President Trump offered multiple diplomatic off-ramps, but was repeatedly rebuffed by Nicolás Maduro;

Whereas, on January 3, 2026, the United States military, in cooperation with the intelligence community and law enforcement agencies, carried out “Operation Absolute Resolve”, a meticulously planned operation resulting in the successful capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores; and

Whereas Operation Absolute Resolve precisely targeted and neutralized Venezuelan air defenses and the Cuban intelligence agents responsible for Maduro’s personal protection, demonstrating the United States military’s superior capabilities integration and professionalism: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

(1) supports President Trump’s decisive military and law enforcement effort under Operation Absolute Resolve to arrest Nicolás Maduro and bring him to justice;

(2) commends the Trump Administration for taking resolute action and praises the bravery and gallantry of United States servicemembers and law enforcement officers who participated in Operation Absolute Resolve; and

(3) supports President Trump's efforts to assist the Venezuelan people in their fight for freedom.