By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
Rep. Nick Langworthy and a Democratic candidate in the 23rd Congressional District have issued statements on the U.S.military operation seizing Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro.
Nickworthy, R-Pendelton, said Maduro’s capture “marks an important step forward in dismantling the narco-terror networks that have fueled violence, corruption and the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.”
The Venezuelan president and his wife were arraigned in federal court in New York City on Monday on narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, corruption and other charges. They are being held without bail.
“Maduro is not only an authoritarian figure — he is a murderous criminal who has overseen the repression, imprisonment and killing of his own people,” Langworthy’s statement said.
“This outcome is the result of decisive action by President Trump, who has made it clear that the United States will confront criminal regimes that threaten our security and destabilize our region. This is what peace through strength looks like — clear resolve backed by action,” Langworthy added.
The message is clear:
“There is no safe harbor for those who seek to harm the United States or the American people,” Langworthy said.
“Nicholas Maduro was never a legitimate leader — he was the head of a criminal cartel masquerading as a government,” the statement continued. “History shows that when narco-states threaten regional stability and American security, the United States has acted before.”
He said, “President George H.W. Bush’s decision to remove Manuel Noriega established that criminal regimes will not be tolerated. Today’s action follows that same principle and accountability, the rule of law and the defense of peace through strength.”
Langworthy said the Venezuelan people have an opportunity “to move toward a more stable, democratic future.”
A potential challenger to Langworthy, Olean Democrat Aaron Gies, who is a St. Bonaventure University professor in the Franciscan Studies Department, said the action “gives every American cause for concern.”
Gies acknowledged Maduro’s illegitimacy as a ruler who “governed through repression and fear. It is right that America should seek to bring him to justice, as it did former Honduran President Juan Hernandez, a convicted narco-terrorist pardoned by President Trump.”
Gies said, “But condemning Monduro’s brutality does not give the United States a blank check for military escalation. Venezuela is a nation of more than 28 million people with a courageous democratic opposition. Reckless intervention risks plunging the country into civil war and inflicting immense suffering on innocent civilians.”
At President Trump’s press conference, he claimed the U.S. should “run Venezuela with the help of American oil companies and did not rule out the deployment of U.S. ground troops,” Gies said.
“Those statements amount to an assertion of control over a sovereign nation, not a law-enforcement action,” Gies said.”Our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan has taught us that regime change wars launched without clear goals or legal authority, become long, expensive and dangerous, with final outcomes that do not justify their cost.”
Gies said that as an educator he has worked with young people in ROTC and the National Guard, and has taught veterans returning from Iran and Afghanistan. “I have read their stories of trauma and triumph and watched them assemble the necessities of life in a world that often doesn’t understand their needs. We must not ask another generation to fight wars driven by political convenience.”
Gies said if elected he would “fight to make sure Congress takes back its constitutional duty to decide when and where our troops go to war.”
Nickworthy, he said, “has spoken out against Maduro, but he’s been silent as Congress is pushed aside and the president hints at another open-ended conflict.”
Gies said, “America is strongest when we lead with smart diplomacy, work with our allies and respect the rule of law — not when we act alone with costly, unnecessary military action.”
