Nigeria, Jan. 22 -- Make no mistake: Nicolas Maduro does not deserve sympathy for his recent kidnap by US President Donald Trump. Maduro, along with his predecessor Hugo Chavez, failed their countrymen. Venezuela, a nation sitting atop the largest proven oil reserves in the world, has been transformed into a major source of refugees. In the most recent presidential election, the rightful winner is still alive and could have been restored to power if that had truly been America's goal. Meanwhile, figures like Maria Corina Machado, recently awarded the Nobel Prize for her courageous resistance against Maduro's regime, receive little attention from US rhetoric.

We are told that "no American lives were lost" during the operation. Cuba, howev...