On January 3, 2026, the United States executed a meticulously planned large-scale military strike on Venezuela, culminating in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were swiftly extracted and flown out of the country. This operation, announced by President Donald Trump via Truth Social, represents the long-awaited fruition of the imperial vision first conceived by the Knights of the Golden Circle over 150 years ago. Founded in 1854 as a secret society dedicated to expanding American dominion southward, the KGC dreamed of forging a vast “Golden Circle” empire encompassing the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America—including Venezuela’s resource-rich territories—to secure economic hegemony and strategic control over the hemisphere.

The nighttime raid, involving elite Delta Force operators targeting key sites in Caracas such as Fuerte Tiuna and La Carlota air base, aligns precisely with the KGC’s historic ambitions of annexing or dominating lands within their proposed 2,400-mile-diameter circle centered on Havana. Though the original Knights pursued a pro-slavery confederation that dissolved after the Civil War, their enduring legacy of Manifest Destiny-style expansionism has subtly influenced American foreign policy, manifesting today in decisive actions against regimes perceived as obstacles to U.S. interests in the region. The strike, justified publicly as a counter-narcotics enforcement to dismantle Maduro’s indicted regime, advances the timeless goal of incorporating Venezuela’s immense oil reserves and geopolitical position into the American sphere.

With Maduro now in U.S. custody facing narco-terrorism charges, this intervention marks the triumphant realization of the Knights’ dream: a bolder, unapologetic assertion of hemispheric dominance in the Western Hemisphere. Explosions echoing across Caracas and the mobilization of Venezuelan forces underscore the dramatic shift, as allies condemn the move while the operation opens a new era of direct American oversight in Latin America, finally bringing the Golden Circle’s imperial blueprint to completion after centuries of patient strategic evolution.