On January 3, 2026 US troops captured Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro at his home in Caracas. The political heir of Hugo Chávez had been in office for nearly thirteen years, resorting to electoral fraud and suppressing the opposition to stay in power. During his time in government, around nine million people fled Venezuela. U.S. prosecutors accuse him and the Venezuelan government of a cocaine-trafficking conspiracy and partnering with cartels designated as terrorist groups. But is Venezuela indeed that important for the regional drug trade? And how do countries in the region perceive the U.S. intervention?
Professor Matías Dewey helps us change perspectives and shares with us his expertise on illicit markets. He is Associate Professor of Latin American Studies at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of St.Gallen. A sociologist by training, he studied first in his native country Argentina at the University Del Salvador before pursing a doctorate at the University of Rostock. He obtained his "habilitation" from the University of Duisburg-Essen.
