![Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, arrived at the Wall Street Heliport in Manhattan under heavy escort and were transported to New York City on 5 January 2026. [Stringer - Anadolu Agency]](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AA-20260105-40165653-40165647-NICOLAS_MADURO_SURROUNDED_BY_ARMED_POLICE_DURING_TRANSFER_TO_NEW_YORK_COURT-1-1.jpg)
As a Libyan who has lived through forced “regime change” scripts in my country in 2011, I recognise this pattern and the role the media played in defending the undefendable while claiming the higher moral grounds of objectivity and fairness. My suspicion was not born of hindsight; in fact, I had already predicted this trajectory during an interview with a Venezuelan podcast a month before the event, warning that the “Libyan model” of narrative-building was being dusted off for Caracas. When the news of the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro broke, I immediately checked several major Western media outlets, starting as usual with the BBC. I was not looking for facts about the event itself, but rather to see how […]
