There is a certain breed of official who thinks a nation is a ledger and a people are an entry in red ink. You seize Maduro, fly him to New York, and then announce from a resort that America will "run" Venezuela until a proper transition arrives. Proper for whom, and paid for by whom? It will not be the men in suits who wait in petrol lines or search for antibiotics, it will be ordinary Venezuelans living through another round of uncertainty. I do not dispute that Maduro's rule has been brutal and corrupt, but the remedy cannot be a new hand on the throat, even a gloved one. If officials talk about recovery and oil access for Western firms, the poor will recognise the pattern: take the wealth first, promise reform later. Put Venezuelans in front, set elections with a public timetable, and stop talking like you bought a country on sale.