Venezuela’s internal tensions are intensifying after President Nicolás Maduro was seized by the United States and taken to New York, with senior figures in Caracas sending conflicting signals about what comes next. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a powerful hardliner, publicly framed the episode as a national humiliation and promised to fight back.

The competing tones—Cabello’s confrontation versus interim leadership’s attempts to stabilize the country—highlight a growing risk of fragmentation inside the governing coalition. Analysts warn that rival factions and armed loyalist networks could shape whether Venezuela moves toward negotiation, repression, or broader instability.