{"id":2530252,"date":"2026-01-05T21:11:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T02:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/venezuela-reportedly-ignores-trump-warnings-initiates-ominous-manhunt\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T21:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T02:14:25","slug":"venezuela-reportedly-ignores-trump-warnings-initiates-ominous-manhunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/venezuela-reportedly-ignores-trump-warnings-initiates-ominous-manhunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela Reportedly Ignores Trump Warnings, Initiates Ominous Manhunt"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvenezuela-reportedly-ignores-trump-warnings-initiates-ominous-manhunt%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2530252&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A daring early-morning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-whitmer-media-caught-in-another-lie-anarchist-arrested-for-plot-to-kidnap-and-kill-whitmer-hates-president-trump-trump-is-a-tyrant-video\/\" title=\"Gov. Whitmer, Media Caught in Another Lie - Anarchist Arrested For Plot to Kidnap and Kill Whitmer Hates ..., &#039;... is a Tyrant&#039; (VIDEO)\">raid<\/a> reportedly captured alleged narco-terrorist Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, who was then charged with offenses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bondi-offers-50-million-for-information-leading-to-maduros-arrest\/\" title=\"Bondi offers  million for information leading to Maduro&#039;s arrest\">including narco-terrorism conspiracy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-rally-around-trump-after-maduro-capture-as-democrats-cry-foul-over-its-legality\/\" title=\"Republicans rally around ... after Maduro capture as Democrats cry foul over its legality\">cocaine importation conspiracy<\/a>. In response, Venezuela&#8217;s interim authorities declared a state of emergency and issued a decree ordering a nationwide manhunt to find and arrest anyone accused of promoting or supporting the U.S. attack. The full text of the decree was published days after the raid, and specific charges for those arrested remain unclear.President Trump had warned Venezuela&#8217;s interim leader, Vice President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, she must cooperate or face consequences, even suggesting a larger military &#8220;second wave&#8221; was ready if needed; Rodr\u00edguez condemned the U.S. operation and appears unlikely to cooperate. Observers say the regime&#8217;s reaction-repression, retaliation, and defiance-looks aimed at consolidating power rather than stabilizing the country, raising the risk of an escalating confrontation with the United States.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>When a daring early morning raid successfully captured alleged narco-terrorist Nicolas Maduro Saturday, many wondered what was next for the Venezuelan strongman.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/legal-expert-jonathan-turley-explains-indictment-contents-terrify-maduro\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">It appears<\/a> to be nothing good.<\/p>\n<p>But as Maduro was charged with a litany of serious charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy, many others naturally began to wonder what the remnants of his Venezuelan regime would do in response.<\/p>\n<p>Again, it appears to be nothing good.<\/p>\n<p>According to a blistering report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/americas\/venezuela-orders-police-find-arrest-anyone-involved-supporting-us-attack-decree-2026-01-05\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reuters<\/a>, the state of emergency declared on Saturday, shortly after Maduro&rsquo;s capture, includes a decree to &ldquo;immediately begin the national search and capture of everyone involved in the promotion or support for the armed attack by the United States.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>While the state of emergency has been in effect since Saturday, the full text of it was only published Monday.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s unclear what charges could be levied against those arrested, but regardless, the move appears to fly directly in the face of stern warnings issued by President Donald Trump in the aftermath of Maduro&rsquo;s capture.<\/p>\n<p>At first, Trump appeared to imply that Venezuela&rsquo;s interim leader, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, would be willing to cooperate with the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>When her first comments after the fact condemned the U.S. raid, Trump didn&rsquo;t mince words.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If she doesn&rsquo;t do what&rsquo;s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,&rdquo; the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/trump-warns-new-venezuelan-leader-right-pay-bigger-price-maduro\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">president said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Trump also spoke about how he seemingly had additional military responses lined up in the event that Rodriguez doesn&rsquo;t play ball.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;No, if Maduro&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-defector-emails-pipeline-to-obama-admin-seen-as-currency\/\" title=\"Hunter Biden Defector Emails: &#039;Pipeline&#039; to Obama Admin Seen as &#039;Currency&#039;\">vice president<\/a> &#038;mdash<\/a>; if the vice president does what we want, we won&rsquo;t have to do that,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/trump-second-wave-ready-venezuela-wont-play-ball\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trump said<\/a> when asked if the U.S. military would have to be more directly involved in Venezuela&rsquo;s day-to-day operations post-Maduro.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re prepared,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;You know, we have a second wave that&rsquo;s much bigger than the first wave.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/venezuela-orders-nationwide-manhunt-supporters-after-maduros-arrest-us-forces\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fox News<\/a> notes, Rodriguez has long been a backer and supporter of Maduro, who is deeply unpopular with Venezuelans across the globe.<\/p>\n<p>And the Reuters report seems to imply that Rodriguez hasn&rsquo;t changed her stance.<\/p>\n<p>What comes next, then, looks less like a transition and more like a test of wills. Rather than signaling reform or cooperation, the regime Maduro leaves behind appears to be defaulting to the only playbook it&rsquo;s accused of knowing: repression, retaliation, and defiance.<\/p>\n<p>A sweeping manhunt aimed at anyone accused of &ldquo;supporting&rdquo; the U.S. operation suggests the post-Maduro government is more interested in consolidating power than stabilizing a country already hollowed out by corruption and economic collapse.<\/p>\n<p>That posture carries real risk, given how explicit Trump&rsquo;s warnings were.<\/p>\n<p>If Venezuela&rsquo;s interim leadership continues down a confrontational path, it may soon learn that Maduro&rsquo;s capture was not the end of American involvement, but the opening move in a far larger and far more consequential confrontation.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maduro&#8217;s capture sparks fears of regime retaliation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2530253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Rodriguez-with-Maduro.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[32319,36710,3900,36408,50813],"class_list":["post-2530252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-donald-trump","tag-latin-america","tag-manhunt","tag-us-foreign-policy","tag-venezuela-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Rodriguez-with-Maduro.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2530252"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2530256,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530252\/revisions\/2530256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2530253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2530252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2530252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2530252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}