Washington, 05 January (H.S.): US Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a resolute statement Sunday defending the Saturday military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, asserting federal agencies pursued every lawful option for peaceful resolution—diplomatic entreaties repeatedly rebuffed by the narco-regime—before executing the perfectly orchestrated months-long endeavor.
Bondi, flanked by Justice and DEA brass in a coordinated missive, attributed all casualties—including Maduro's slain security detail and reported civilian deaths in Caracas suburbs—to perpetrators' criminality, vowing the duo would confront the full wrath of American justice on US soil via unsealed indictments for cocaine trafficking fueling the opioid plague.
The communique—echoing President Trump's Mar-a-Lago run the country edict—chronicles interagency choreography spanning CIA drone preludes, Caribbean tanker seizures, and Delta Force extraction sans congressional pre-approval, framed as constitutional imperative against imminent threats from the Cartel de los Soles.
Fallout Scrutiny Intensifies
Senator Chuck Schumer lambasted the strikes—bombarding La Guaira port, airbases, and Maduro's bunker—as congressional overreach, pledging war powers resolution vote; legal savants probe international law amid extrajudicial optics, though White House insists precision minimized collateral in international waters prelude.
Caracas slumbered Sunday under curfew pall, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino decrying innocent toll while backing Delcy Rodríguez; global chorus—Russia, Iran, India's Left—rails imperialism.
Legal Reckoning Looms
Maduro and Cilia Flores—extradited via USS Iwo Jima to Manhattan DEA custody—face Monday arraignment before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on 2020 narco-terror charges, Bondi amplifying $50m bounty precedent; Rubio tempers with oil quarantine sans occupation, yet Trump's Atlantic ultimatum to Rodríguez portends escalation.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
