Maduro Captured, But His Inner Circle Still Rules Venezuela

• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured by the US, facing federal drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges in New York.
• Despite Maduro's capture, his inner circle, including Delcy Rodríguez (acting president), Jorge Rodríguez, Diosdado Cabello, and Vladimir Padrino López, remains in power in Caracas.
• Key figures like Cabello and Padrino López are indicted in the US with multi-million-dollar bounties, yet the US chose not to extract them during the operation.
• The US operation, praised by Donald Trump, did not dismantle Venezuela's civilian-military power structure, which relies on a network of loyalists and intelligence agencies like SEBIN and DGCIM.
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that capturing more figures was "not feasible" due to operational limits and the need to avoid extended presence on the ground.

Why It Matters: Maduro's capture removed a figurehead, but Venezuela's entrenched power structure remains intact.