04/01/2026
From Steering Wheel to Iron Grip: Nicolás Maduro, the Echo of Noriega, and the Cost of Power Without Accountability
The story of Nicolás Maduro Moros was once sold as a triumph of the ordinary man. A bus driver, a high school dropout, a trade union activist who rose from the margins of society to become president of one of South America’s most resource-rich nations. For a time, his ascent symbolized possibility. But history will remember him differently: as a high-handed leader who hollowed out democratic institutions, weaponized sovereignty against his own people, and ultimately followed a path eerily reminiscent of an earlier Latin American strongman—Manuel Antonio Noriega of Panama—whose rule ended in U.S....
The story of Nicolás Maduro Moros was once sold as a triumph of the ordinary man. A bus driver, a high school dropout, a trade union activist who rose from the margins of society to become president of one of South America’s most resource-rich nations.
