During a United Nations briefing, Mike Waltz addresses the U.S. operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores. Waltz outlines why Maduro was treated as a fugitive narco-terrorist rather than a legitimate head of state, detailing decades-long indictments, cartel coordination, and the use of narcotics as a weapon against the United States. He draws direct comparisons to past operations like the arrest of Manuel Noriega, framing the action as a lawful law-enforcement operation - not a war against Venezuela or its people.
The briefing underscores how transnational cartels, state sponsorship, and foreign adversaries pose a national security threat that the U.S. says it can no longer ignore.
