‘Fentanyl Smuggled From Venezuela’: JD Vance Defends US Action Amid Criticism Over Maduro Detention

Last Updated:January 04, 2026, 22:20 IST

Trump claimed that Venezuela was responsible for facilitating drugs killing Americans, but statistics show that most overdoses are from fentanyl, which doesn’t come from Venezuela.

The US accused Nicolas Maduro and his allies of conspiring to move large quantities of cocaine to the United States. (Reuters/Representational Image)

US Vice President JD Vance has come out in defence of the Trump administration after the dramatic military operation in Venezuela, which culminated in President Nicolas Maduro’s capture, led to criticism that America had misidentified the actual source that was facilitating the illegal trafficking of lethal drugs in the country.

While the Trump administration had accused the Maduro regime of facilitating the illegal trafficking of drugs into the US, statistics showed that fentanyl, which was being exported from Mexico, was the leading cause of drug-related deaths in the US rather than Venezuelan cocaine.

Amid criticism over Trump’s actions, JD Vance addressed the concerns, refuting that Venezuela had nothing to do with drugs simply because most of the fentanyl came from elsewhere. “First off, fentanyl isn’t the only drug in the world and there is still fentanyl coming from Venezuela (or at least there was),” he said.

“Cocaine, which is the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela, is a profit centre for all of the Latin America cartels. If you cut out the money from cocaine (or even reduce it) you substantially weaken the cartels overall. Also, cocaine is bad too!” he added.

Vance assured that the illegal trafficking of fentanyl from Mexico remains a focus of US policy towards the neighbouring country. Responding to criticism that America’s operation was to secure Venezuelan oil, the VP said that Caracas had expropriated American oil property about 20 years ago and had used that property to fund its narco-terrorist activities.

“I understand the anxiety over the use of military force, but are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing? Great powers don’t act like that. The United States, thanks to President Trump’s leadership, is a great power again. Everyone should take note,” he added.

Vance’s clarification came amid criticism by several sections – home and abroad – about the nature of the US action and Maduro’s detention. While the US said the action aims to halt drug trafficking, countries such as Russia and China have condemned what they described as a blatant violation of international law.

What The Data Shows

The Trump administration has alleged that Maduro leads the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), a drug-trafficking organisation embedded in Venezuela’s military, and works with groups including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and other transnational criminal networks who pose a threat to the national security of the US by illegal trafficking of drugs.

However, experts say that most of the overdoses in the US involve fentanyl, which does not come from South America. Fentanyl is almost entirely produced in Mexico using chemicals from China, according to US authorities. Experts have described Venezuela as a minor cocaine transit country, with most of the cocaine flowing through Venezuela heading to Europe, according to the New York Times.

Data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have also indicated that the overwhelming majority of drug overdose deaths are caused not by cocaine, but by fentanyl, which runs contrary to Trump’s claims that Venezuela was the “heart of drugs poisoning America”.

The US has also received criticism after Trump mentioned that US companies would manage Venezuela’s oil facilities, fueling suspicions that the operation’s true purpose was “securing oil” rather than eradicating drugs.

Furthermore, criticism also focused on the pardon issued by Trump to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was accused of illegally facilitating large amounts of cocaine in the US. Experts noted that Trump had pardoned Hernandez, who had received a 45-year sentence for his involvement in the illegal drug trade, which raised doubts about Trump’s motives to curb drug trafficking.

US Indictment On Maduro

After Maduro’s high-profile capture, the US unsealed an indictment against him on charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. It also charged his wife, his son, two high-ranking Venezuelan officials and an alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua group, saying Maduro and his allies worked for decades with major drug trafficking groups to move large quantities of cocaine to the United States.

The American military, under the operation named “Operation Absolute Resolve,” deployed special forces, including Delta Force, arresting the Maduro couple and transporting them to the US. Trump hailed the attack – in which the NYT reported at least 40 people, including civilians and Venezuelan soldiers, died – as “an assault like people have not seen since World War II”.

The dramatic intervention in Caracas was condemned by Democrats on Capitol Hill and several leaders around the world as the most dangerous example of US imperialism since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to The Guardian.

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