Maduro’s capture hasn’t ended Venezuela’s crisis. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans abroad still rely on temporary protections now at risk of being revoked. With TPS ended in the U.S. and permits expiring across Latin America, millions face possible deportation to a country still unstable and economically collapsed. Removing one leader hasn’t resolved the conditions that forced them to flee.
International law has never been self‑enforcing. It works only when states collectively treat violations as intolerable. Once powerful actors discover that coercive territorial change carries minimal cost, the system shifts from rule‑based restraint to power‑based ordering. For states whose security depends on law rather than force, this shift is existential.
UN Security Council Resolution 2803, passed on November 17, 2025, endorses Trump’s Gaza peace plan, establishing a U.S.-chaired Board of Peace and an International Stabilization Force with broad powers. This plan follows UN Commission of Inquiry findings of Israel’s genocide actions against Palestinians, highlighting a critical tension between the goals of stabilization and the demands for accountability.
