Kansas City's U.S. representatives react to military action in Venezuela

In a military maneuver the Trump administration is calling "Operation Absolute Resolve," Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured in their home in Caracas early Saturday morning. They are now in U.S. custody in New York and will face criminal charges, including narco-terrorism and cocaine importation.

President Donald Trump — who ran on an "America First" campaign against foreign intervention — has also claimed that the United States will now "run" Venezuela indefinitely, and American oil companies will take over Venezuela's oil industry.

Kansas and Missouri elected officials reacted along party lines.

Missouri U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt said in a statement on X that "we are a superpower. This is our hemisphere. And we're going to start acting like it again."

"President Trump is taking back control," Schmitt said.

Schmitt's GOP colleague, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the invasion.

In a post on X, Missouri 5th District Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat, called the raid "deeply damaging to America's reputation around the world."

The two Missouri Republican representatives from the Kansas City area, 4th District Rep. Mark Alford and 6th District Rep. Sam Graves, praised Trump's action.

Alford, also posting on X, said the president of Venezuela had been allowing drugs to poison our communities. He called Trump's move "bold."

Graves posted a message with a similar tone, saying the president's "decisive action" will allow the Venezuelan president to face justice for "flooding our country with drugs."

Missouri GOP Rep. Eric Burlison of Greene County said Marduro's capture "is the latest reminder that socialism inevitably fails." Marduro was the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela who became Venezuela's president after the death of Hugo Chavez in the 2010s.

"Maduro's removal was necessary to protect America's interests and our people, and it gives Venezuela an opportunity to choose a different path," Burlison said. "Socialism remains attractive because it promises comfort without responsibility. Prosperity is not delivered by government. It is created by free people in open markets."

Kansas U.S. Sen. Dr. Roger Marshall praised the U.S. military for protecting American lives. There were no U.S. casualties. We do not yet know about casualties among Venezuelans.

Kansas U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat, said in a statement that while she acknowledged Maduro was a ruthless autocrat, the raid was a mistake.

“President Maduro is a brutal dictator who has harmed the Venezuelan people," Davids said. "And launching overnight strikes without Congressional authorization or a clear explanation puts U.S. troops in danger and risks further escalation. The American people deserve answers.”

Missouri U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell, a Democrat from St. Louis County, said Trump “once again acted the way he often does — recklessly and without regard for the law — using military force in Venezuela without congressional authorization.”

“While Maduro is an illegitimate dictator, the administration has offered no clear legal basis, no serious explanation of the intelligence, and no plan for what comes next. I never doubted that our brave service members could carry out this mission. They’re the best fighting force in the world,” Bell said. "But when the United States doesn't live up to our ideals, it hands cover to Russia as it wages an illegal war in Ukraine, and to China as it threatens Taiwan.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas weighed in on Facebook, saying he did not think the thousands of men and women from the Kansas City area should have to serve as "world police in Venezuela with no US plans for administration or exit whatsoever."

St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum and Lacretia Wimbley contributed.