Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. Army Delta Force’s operation to capture former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro “was brilliant.”
Blinken appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday to respond to the detention of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Jan. 3.
“As I said, as a military operation, as an intelligence matter, it was brilliant,” Blinken said.
“But again, the question is, where does this go from here? If this leads to a genuine democratic transition in Venezuela, if Mrs. Machado or her party wind up being seated, that would be a tremendous outcome, and one that I would applaud and applaud the president for,” he added.
“But right now, we’re in a moment where, again, we’ve had regime change without changing the regime,” Blinken said. “This is the old Who song, you know, ‘here’s the new boss, same as the old boss.’”
Blinken implied that he is in favor of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado taking over as head of state, rather than acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, who served as vice president under Maduro.
The United States is not backing Machado’s bid as Maduro’s possible successor because the CIA recommended it may lead to instability in Venezuela. Additionally, President Donald Trump said it would be “very tough for [Machado] to be the leader because she doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”
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However, Trump is expected to host Machado at the White House sometime this week, marking the pair’s first time speaking since Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2025.
While Machado won the primary election in 2023, Maduro barred her from running in the general election in 2024. Machado has continued to live in hiding in Venezuela.