Nicolás Maduro Refused to be a Slave to Empire

The New York Times reported that Trump officials felt mocked by Venezuela’s president. What provoked them was not a speech or a policy, but Nicolás Maduro’s nonchalance—his dancing in the face of escalating U.S. threats.

As the Trump administration bombed fishing vessels in the Caribbean, killing at least 115 people at the time of this writing under the banner of a war on “narco-terrorists,” Maduro danced.

As Trump dispatched eleven warships, squadrons of fighter jets, and fifteen thousand troops to menace and blockade Venezuela, Maduro danced.

As Pete Hegseth railed against “fat generals,” bemoaned the decline of white American masculinity, and called for a revival of a macho “warrior ethos” in the U.S. military, Maduro danced.

As living standards fell and life expectancy declined in the United States, Maduro danced.

As Trump blamed immigrants for the decay of an empire hollowed out by addiction, alienation, and extreme inequality, Maduro danced.

And as Trump openly demanded Venezuela’s oil and resources—letting the mask slip that this was never about drugs—Maduro danced, chanting in English, “No crazy war,” as if addressing Trump directly.

The mockery could not be tolerated. So the United States followed through on its threats. Last Saturday, Trump sent special forces to kidnap Maduro and his wife, First Lady and “First Combatant” Cilia Flores, from the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, bombing and killing all who stood in their way.

It was never really about dance moves. Maduro’s real crime was refusing submission, refusing to be a slave to a white supremacist empire. And despite what the United States does or does not do, the tune continues to play. Venezuela dances the same moves as its now abducted president now with a cautious eye toward an unwanted voyeur.

Even in chains and behind bars, Maduro’s dance moves still bother Trump.

“I am the president of Venezuela, I consider myself a prisoner of war. I was captured at my home in Caracas,” Maduro told a judge in a New York courtroom, facing drug conspiracy charges that even his accusers appear to be now backing away from.

(There was no Cartel of the Sun, they admit.)

The 92-year-old white judge interrupted Maduro, perhaps afraid he and his wife might start dancing, violating the sanctity of the court and country that had stolen them away.

This piece first appeared on Red Scare.