US arrest of Maduro justified, legality be damned – Kemi Badenoch shocks world

By Ademola Adekusibe
January 6, 2026

Kemi Badenoch, Conservative Party leader, has backed the United States’ military operation that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, describing it as morally right.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Badenoch drew from her childhood experience growing up in Nigeria under successive military regimes, including Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, and Sani Abacha. She compared Maduro’s authoritarian rule, which began in 2013, to the oppressive military governments she witnessed firsthand.

“Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do,” she said. “I grew up under a military dictatorship, so I know what it’s like to have someone like Maduro in charge.”

Badenoch described Venezuela under Maduro as a “gangster state” and called the US intervention “extraordinary,” highlighting the systemic corruption and human rights abuses.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are currently in New York facing charges of weapons and drug offences, accused of using violent criminal networks to smuggle cocaine into the United States and enrich themselves.

Badenoch’s comments add a UK political perspective supporting Washington’s controversial action, emphasizing the moral imperative over strict legal considerations in removing an authoritarian leader.