{"id":88378,"date":"2026-01-03T22:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/88378\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:34:07","slug":"nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-slams-trump-capture-of-venezuelas-nicolas-maduro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/88378\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani slams Trump capture of Venezuela’s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> on Saturday said he was briefed on plans to imprison Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife in New York City, calling their capture an “act of war and a violation of federal and international law.”<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> announced the couple’s capture in a “large scale strike” Saturday morning, following months of assaults on suspected drug vessels allegedly tied to the Venezuelan regime in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.<\/p>\n

The Venezuelan government said in a statement the attack was carried out to seize the country’s oil and minerals, and was an “attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a \u2018regime change<\/a>,\u2019 in alliance with the fascist oligarchy.”<\/p>\n

\"CIA <\/p>\n

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, left, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio watch from Mar-a-Lago in Florida as a U.S. military operation is carried out to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Saturday. (Credit: Donald Trump via TruthSocial) (Donald Trump via TruthSocial)<\/p>\n

FROM BUS DRIVER TO DICTATOR: NICOL\u00c1S MADURO\u2019S RISE AND FALL IN VENEZUELA<\/a><\/p>\n

Mamdani, a Democratic socialist inaugurated on New Year’s Day, said during a news conference Saturday he discussed the matter with Trump on the phone, pushing back on the commander-in-chief’s decision.<\/p>\n

“I called the president and spoke with him directly to register my opposition to this act, and to make clear that it was an opposition based on being opposed to a pursuit of regime change, to the violation of federal international law, and a desire to see that be consistent each and every day,” Mamdani said. “I registered my opposition, I made it clear, and we left it at that.”<\/p>\n

The mayor later took to X, claiming the “blatant pursuit of regime change” will directly impact New Yorkers and Venezuelans living in New York City.<\/p>\n

“My focus is their safety and the safety of every New Yorker<\/a>, and my administration will continue to monitor the situation and issue relevant guidance,” Mamdani wrote in the post.<\/p>\n

\"Venezuelan <\/p>\n

A woman holds a Venezuelan flag in front of the White House in Washington, D.D., during a demonstration following U.S. military action in Venezuela on Saturday. (Mandel NGAN \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES: TRUMP CONFIRMS OVERNIGHT STRIKES IN VENEZUELA, SAYS US HAS \u2018CAPTURED\u2019 MADURO<\/a><\/p>\n

Both Maduro and Mamdani believe in redistributing wealth<\/a> downward, with Mamdani focused on taxing the wealthy and corporations to fund public services, and Maduro redistributing wealth through oil revenues and state control of resources.<\/p>\n

Mamdani also campaigned on public-run housing, childcare, transit and city-owned grocery stores, similar to Maduro’s policies of state-run food distribution, healthcare and housing.<\/p>\n

\"People <\/p>\n

Venezuelans celebrate after President Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country, Saturday. (AP Photo\/Esteban Felix)<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

However, Venezuelan socialism involves nationalization and central control, which led to an economic collapse and authoritarian drift.<\/p>\n

Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.<\/p>\n

Alexandra Koch is a Fox News Digital journalist who covers breaking news, with a focus on high-impact events that shape national conversation.<\/p>\n

She has covered major national crises, including the L.A. wildfires, Potomac and Hudson River aviation disasters, Boulder terror attack, and Texas Hill Country floods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Saturday said he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[153,9,24,56,63,65,64,42403,82],"class_list":["post-88378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-donald-trump","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-venezuelan-political-crisis","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}