US captured Venezuela’s Maduro after strike, Trump says
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WASHINGTON/CARACAS - The US attacked Venezuela and deposed its long-serving President Nicolas Maduro on Jan 3, President Donald Trump said, in Washington’s most direct intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,” Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Ahead of the overnight strike, the US had accused Mr Maduro of running a “narco state” and rigging the 2024 election, which the opposition said it won overwhelmingly.
The Venezuelan leader, a 63-year-old former bus driver handpicked by the dying Hugo Chavez to succeed him in 2013, has denied those claims and said Washington was intent on taking control of his nation’s oil reserves, the largest in the world.
Speaking to Fox News, Mr Trump said Mr Maduro was captured by special operations forces and whisked by helicopters to the Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship in the Caribbean, ahead of his transfer to New York.
The fate of Mr Maduro’s government remains an open question.
Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez is in Russia, four sources familiar with her movements said, stoking confusion about who is next in line to govern the South American country.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the report that Ms Rodriguez was in Russia was “fake”.
Details of the overnight intervention have not yet been made public. Mr Trump told Fox the raid had been planned for several days earlier but had been repeatedly delayed because of the weather.
The US has not made such a direct intervention in its backyard region since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago to depose military leader Manuel Noriega over similar allegations.
Venezuela’s ruling “Chavismo” movement, named for Mr Maduro’s revered predecessor, said civilians and military personnel died in Jan 3’s strikes but did not give figures.
It was unclear if the US would now stand back while other senior figures in Venezuela’s ruling party – like Ms Rodriguez – fill the void or if there would be pressure for their ouster as well.
The opposition, headed by recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado
Mr Trump said the operation was carried out “in conjunction with US Law Enforcement” and promised more details at an 11am press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Mr Maduro was captured by elite special forces troops, a US official told Reuters.
Republican Senator Mike Lee said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told him Mr Maduro would stand trial on criminal charges in the US and that no further action was anticipated inside Venezuela.
US Attorney-General Pam Bondi said Mr Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores had been indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges including “narco-terrorism conspiracy”, conspiracy to import cocaine, and charges related to machine guns.
“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” Ms Bondi said on X.
The indictment against Mr Maduro was lodged in 2020, while the indictment against his wife was not previously known.
In the Panama case, Noriega ended up in prison for 20 years.
Vice-President Rodriguez said she did not know the whereabouts of either Mr Maduro or his wife, and demanded proof of life.
Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned the intervention.
“In the unity of the people we will find the strength to resist and to triumph,” he said in a video message.
Another senior official, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, appeared on a street wearing a helmet and flak jacket, urging people not to cooperate with the “terrorist enemy”.
With Ms Rodriguez potentially taking the presidency but Mr Padrino and Mr Cabello having significant influence over the powerful military, Venezuelans were nervously guessing what might come next.
Analysts say military backing had helped keep Mr Maduro in power despite his unpopularity on the streets and significant evidence that he lost national votes.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were reportedly captured by elite special forces troops and flown out of the country.
PHOTO: AFP
Action in Venezuela recalls past US interventions
The Venezuelan opposition says Mr Maduro has repeatedly cheated it of power in elections, crushed street protests and jailed opposition figures.
Mr Maduro has mocked Ms Machado as being in Mr Trump’s pocket.
Her whereabouts, after recently fleeing Venezuela in disguise to pick up her Nobel Prize, were unknown.
One source close to the opposition, who asked not to be named, said Mr Maduro’s removal was an “inside job” aided by Venezuela’s military.
“For now, no more military action, but this was a message to the rest of the members of Venezuela’s government – look what the United States is capable of, get out now and negotiate,” the source said, without offering evidence.
In the early hours of Jan 3, explosions rocked Venezuela’s capital Caracas and elsewhere, prompting Mr Maduro’s government to declare a national emergency and mobilise troops. It said attacks also took place in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
Blasts, aircraft and black smoke could be seen across Caracas from about 2am for roughly 90 minutes.
Venezuelans shocked
Residents expressed shock and fear as they captured video of billowing smoke and bright orange flashes in the sky.
“My love, oh no, look at that,” said one woman in a video, gasping at blasts in the distance.
Ms Carmen Marquez, 50, a resident of the eastern part of the capital, said she went to her roof and could hear planes at different altitudes, though she could not see them.
“Flare-like lights were crossing the sky and then explosions could be heard. We’re worried about what’s coming next. We don’t know anything from the government, only what the state television says,” she said.
A local media outlet allied with the ruling socialist party said explosions had taken place near the Fuerte Tiuna and La Carlota military bases. State TV images of La Carlota showed what appeared to be a destroyed tank and buses.
While various Latin American governments oppose Mr Maduro and say he stole the 2024 election, direct US action revives painful memories of past interventions and is generally strongly opposed by governments and populations in the region.
Mr Trump’s action recalls the Monroe Doctrine, laid out in 1823 by then US President James Monroe, laying US claim to influence in the region, as well as the “gunboat diplomacy” seen under Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s.
New dawn, the tyrant is gone: US official
“A new dawn for Venezuela! The tyrant is gone,” US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote on X.
The streets of Venezuela appeared relatively calm as the sun rose on Jan 3. Soldiers patrolled some parts.
“I’m happy. I doubted for a moment that it was happening because it’s like a movie,” said merchant Carolina Pimentel, 37, in the city of Maracay. “It’s all calm now, but I feel like at any moment everyone will be out celebrating.”
Venezuelan allies Russia, Cuba and Iran were quick to condemn the strikes as a violation of sovereignty.
Tehran urged the UN Security Council to stop the “unlawful aggression”.
Among major Latin American nations, Argentina’s President Javier Milei lauded Venezuela’s new “freedom”, while Mexico condemned the intervention and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said it crossed “an unacceptable line”.
A fire burning near vegetation in Caracas, Venezuela, after multiple explosions were reported across the capital on Jan 3.
PHOTO: EPA
In the run-up, Mr Trump had sought a “blockade” of Venezuelan oil
Smoke billowing over Caracas after a series of explosions in the Venezuelan capital on Jan 3, 2026.
PHOTOS: REUTERS, AFP
It was unclear under what legal authority the latest US strikes were carried out. Mr Trump’s move risks drawing backlash from the US Congress, which has the constitutional right to declare war, and from his own political base, which favours an “America first” policy and largely opposes military intervention abroad.
Venezuelan state-run energy company PDVSA’s oil production and refining were normal, and its most important facilities had suffered no damage, according to an initial assessment, two sources with knowledge of the company’s operations said.
MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic said oil prices were likely to jump on the near-term risk to supply, but that the US strike could be bearish in the medium term if a new Venezuelan government results in sanctions being lifted and renewed foreign investment. REUTERS, AFP
