In the wake of the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, the United States is now forced to reckon with a record of depravity that is nothing short of a great human scandal. Indeed, the crimes of which Mr. Maduro has been credibly accused boggle the mind.
To look upon the ruins of Maduro’s regime and offer only a shrug … is to fail the most basic test of a just society.
Maduro’s presence on American soil is the result of years of legal preparation and, according to Saturday’s press conference, months of operational planning. He arrives facing a lengthy federal indictment in the Southern District of New York. The charges are staggering: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and the possession of machine guns and destructive devices. The U.S. government alleges that Maduro functioned as the leader of the “Cartel de los Soles,” effectively converting the Venezuelan state into a criminal enterprise designed to flood American streets with poison while enriching a corrupt elite. He is also accused of stealing American oil and using the proceeds to fund his criminal endeavors and entrench his power.
But as grave as these narco-terrorism charges are, they only scratch the surface of Maduro’s evil. The current U.S. legal framework focuses on drugs and guns because they provide the clearest, most traditional path to a domestic conviction. However, the American people, the Venezuelan people, and indeed the whole world deserve more than a trial about smuggling routes, vessels, and the usual talking points of foreign policy hawks.
Moreover, an inconvenient truth arises for his apologists, both foreign adversaries and domestic stooges: if the Department of Justice is truly committed to the so-called “full wrath of American justice,” it must pursue explicit charges for the crimes against humanity that define Maduro’s tenure. One crime especially demands the sword: the detention and physical and sexual torture of children.
The International Criminal Court has, since 2021, been pursuing a formal investigation into credible reports of systematic torture, sexual violence, and political persecution. Children are among those most affected by these heinous abuses. Following the South American nation’s rigged 2024 election, at least 220 children were forcibly detained. Many were held in adult prisons and subjected to what Amnesty International has dubbed “endless cruelty.”
The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission has documented a “policy of repression” that specifically targets the young. Further, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleges Maduro used the apparatus of the state — including legal cover provided by his wife, who has been indicted alongside him — to detain hundreds more children and subject them to unspeakable evil.
According to these reports, Maduro’s forces appear to have sexually tortured children and adolescents as young as 12 years old to extract sham confessions of “terrorism” and “treason.” Their “crime” was nothing more than attending pro-democracy protests with their parents. The methods used to extract these confessions included beatings, forced nudity, and coercive transactional sex from female children in exchange for basic needs. Most horrifyingly, reports from the UN confirm the use of electric shocks on the genitals of minors.
The United States must speak and act with crystalline clarity: the DOJ must immediately expand its charges against Maduro to include these crimes against children. Further, if convicted, Mr. Maduro has quite possibly forfeited his right to life. The same applies to the officials who performed and permitted these hellish acts — officials who, God willing, will also be brought to justice through the might of the American Armed Forces as the transition of power begins.
We are not merely discussing a failed communist experiment or a standard-issue autocrat. We are discussing a regime and a man that has likely systematically engaged in “anthropological murder” — the violent desecration of the human person and a war against the inviolable selfhood of the image-bearers of the Creator. To look upon the ruins of Maduro’s regime and offer only a shrug or sentencing for drug trafficking is to fail the most basic test of a just society.
In the Name of God and for the sake of the children, we must act.
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David Bumgardner is a Christian, minister, and author who is a former fellow for Baptist News Global. David’s work includes theological reflections, book reviews, opinion editorials, and featured news and analysis pieces.
