Congressman Cliff Bentz (R-OR) has issued a statement regarding the recent U.S. military operation in Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The operation took place on January 2 and lasted approximately 150 minutes after several months of preparation.
Bentz expressed his gratitude to those involved in the mission, stating: “I want to thank the brave men and women of the United States military, and our intelligence services, for their work in completing this mission with outstanding skill, courage, and professionalism.”
He described Maduro as “successor to his equally brutal predecessor Hugo Chavez,” alleging that Maduro operated a narco-terrorist network centered in Venezuela responsible for distributing drugs into the United States. Bentz said this network has harmed thousands of Americans and contributed to economic instability and a refugee crisis in Venezuela.
According to Bentz, “Thanks to decisive action authorized by President Trump, Mr. Maduro will be brought to justice for his crimes, a result consistent with ongoing efforts to stop the export of cocaine from Venezuela and the blockade of its oil exports, profits from which have been used to fund Maduro’s illegitimate hold on power.”
Bentz addressed concerns about leaving Venezuela’s governmental structure intact: “Leaving Venezuela’s system of government in place while removing Maduro avoids creating a power vacuum which could easily throw the country into chaos, a situation which could be easily exploited by forces worse than Maduro’s regime. Thus, Venezuela’s authoritarian governing structure, undesirable as it is, was necessarily left in place.”
He also commented on broader U.S. policy toward countries such as Cuba, China, Iran and groups like Hezbollah: “The Administration’s plan is to use sanctions, the blockade of oil exports, and the threat of another military strike to ‘leverage’ change within Venezuela and to discourage countries such as Cuba, China, Iran, and groups such as Hezbollah (collectively the ‘Axis of Autocrats’) from entering into the Western Hemisphere.”
Reflecting on Congressional oversight responsibilities regarding foreign operations he added: “Helping protect the United States from foreign threats is one of the most important of a Congressman’s obligations. A Congressman must also oversee executive military operations. As one who has seen friends and other Oregonians killed, horribly wounded, or rendered mentally unfit while fighting in foreign entanglements which started out as limited interventions and then grew into massive troop deployments, I have no interest whatsoever in militarily pursuing regime change in Venezuela. In my opinion, to this point, the Administration has operated within its constitutional limits, carefully, and for justifiable reasons. The Administration’s next steps must be as carefully designed and implemented… but the plan going forward must be clearly explained and justified to the American people and to Congress.”
Cliff Bentz currently serves Oregon’s 2nd district in Congress after replacing Greg Walden in 2021 (https://bentz.house.gov/about). He previously served both in Oregon’s House of Representatives between 2008-2018 and State Senate from 2018-2020 (https://www.congress.gov/member/cliff-bentz/B001307). Born in Salem in 1952 Bentz now lives in Ontario at age 71; he graduated from Eastern Oregon University with a BA before earning his JD at Lewis & Clark College.
