Geopolitical turmoil is distracting Washington from a volatile southern border

Washington has rapidly removed three of the most consequential figures in the global security landscape since the start of the year. 

In January, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was captured in a U.S. operation that dismantled the regime’s command structure. In February, Mexican security forces killed cartel leader El Mencho with intelligence provided by the United States. Days later, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was eliminated in a strike carried out by Israel with U.S. support. And in March, Trump indicated that Cuba is up next. 

Each of those developments carries enormous strategic implications on its own, but taken together, they create a situation far more complicated. Individually, many Americans would probably view each event as a victory. Maduro presided over a regime sustained by corruption and illicit oil networks that allowed Venezuela to endure years of sanctions pressure. El Mencho led perhaps the most violent and sophisticated drug trafficking organizations the world has ever known. Khamenei ruled through repression at home while destabilizing the Middle East abroad. 

Few Americans would argue the world is worse off without any of these individuals. But removing powerful leaders from long held power structures rarely ends the story. It merely begins the next phase. Leadership removals disrupt hierarchies. Alliances shift. Rival factions begin competing to fill the vacuum. Sometimes the system stabilizes over time, but in others, the system falls into chaos. 

That uncertainty now stretches across several regions at once. Iran is navigating the loss of the figure who anchored its political and religious........

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