States rot when rulers believe no law can reach them, and Maduro behaved as if he were untouchable. If the United States has seized him and brought him to New York to face serious charges, that breaks a cycle of impunity that has poisoned the region for years. A transition cannot be a slogan; it must be a sequence: secure installations, keep services running, prevent reprisals, then hand power to a legitimate authority. Rubio described a three-phase plan on Jan 7, and whatever one thinks of it, at least it admits that vacuum is deadly. The critics shouting "imperialism" should answer a simpler question: what was the alternative on Jan 3, to leave a failing state to drift into chaos and criminal networks? The hardest work begins now, because controlling a capital is easier than building a state. If Washington cannot set clear limits and meet them, the victory will curdle into resentment.