‘Down With Socialism’: Poilievre Congratulates Trump for Capturing Venezuela’s Maduro

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his wife Anaida wave to delegates at the Conservative Party Convention in Quebec City on Sept. 8, 2023. Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre congratulated U.S. President Donald Trump over the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

The United States announced Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured and transported to New York following an overnight military strike by U.S. forces in Venezuela on Jan. 2. The two were indicted on drug trafficking charges, according to U.S. officials.

Poilievre posted a congratulatory message to Trump on social media on Jan. 3, saying Maduro “should live out his days in prison.”

“The legitimate winner of the most recent Venezuelan elections, Edmundo González, should take office along with the courageous hero and voice of the Venezuelan people, María Corina Machado,” Poilievre wrote, adding: “Down with socialism. Long live freedom.”

Poilievre’s wife, Anaida, was born in Venezuela and came to Canada with her family as refugees in the 1990s.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Jan. 3 that Canada welcomes “the opportunity for freedom, democracy, peace, and prosperity for the Venezuelan people.” He added however that his government “on all parties to respect international law.”

“One of the first actions taken by Canada’s new government in March 2025 was to impose additional sanctions on Nicolás Maduro’s brutally oppressive and criminal regime — unequivocally condemning his grave breaches of international peace and security, gross and systematic human rights violations, and corruption,” Carney said.

“We stand by the Venezuelan people’s sovereign right to decide and build their own future in a peaceful and democratic society.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in a statement that Canada has “refused to recognize any legitimacy of the Maduro regime” since 2019.

Canada closed its embassy in Venezuela in 2019, saying the country was sliding further into dictatorship.

NDP interim leader Don Davies condemned the move by the United States, saying it was a “flagrant breach of international law and the rules-based system the US claims to support.”

“Canada must strongly condemn it and call for the immediate cessation of aggression by the US against the sovereign state of Venezuela,” Davis said in a post on X.

Maduro became the leader of Venezuela in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chávez, who took office in 1999. In 2018, Maduro was declared winner of the presidential election after Venezuelan opposition parties were banned from participating.

He was also declared the winner of the recent 2024 elections hours after polls closed, but the opposition says it has evidence he lost by more than a 2-to-1 margin.

Maduro and his wife were taken from their home on a military base to a U.S. warship and flown to New York, according to U.S. authorities.

The couple were indicted in the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Jan. 3.

Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States, Bondi said on X.

The attack in Caracas lasted less than 30 minutes, with at least seven blasts being heard.

The Associated Press and T.J. Muscaro contributed to this report.