‘Like a television show’: Trump revels in Venezuelan President Maduro’s capture
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People hold an American and Venezuelan flags, as they react to the news of Nicolas Maduro's capture.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WEST PALM BEACH, Florida - President Donald Trump struck a triumphant note over the capture of Mr Nicolas Maduro on Jan 3, saying he had watched live as US forces seized the Venezuelan leader from a “fortress”.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. I was able to watch it in real time,” the 79-year-old Republican said in a telephone interview with Fox News.
“I watched it, literally, like I was watching a television show. And if you would have seen the speed, the violence.”
Mr Trump said no US troops were killed in the dramatic operation
The US President, who is at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, said he had spoken to Mr Maduro a week ago and told him “you have to surrender”.
He added that the United States would not allow anyone to take over where Mr Maduro “left off” – while skirting around whether he backed Nobel Peace laureate Maria Machado to be the next president.
Mr Trump gave a detailed description of the operation that saw the US launch air strikes on Venezuela before special forces captured the leftist leader, in the climax to a months-long pressure campaign.
He said that he originally gave the all-clear for the operation to capture Mr Maduro four days ago but that it was held up because of the weather, until Jan 3.
“It was just amazing,” Mr Trump said. “He was in a very highly guarded... like a fortress, actually. He was in a fortress.
“It had steel doors, it had what they call a safety space where it’s solid steel all around. He didn’t get that space closed, he was trying to get into it, but he got bum-rushed so fast that he didn’t get into that.
“We were prepared with massive blowtorches to get through the steel, but we didn’t need them.”
‘Not going to be pushed around’
Mr Trump added that it was “amazing” that no US forces were killed, adding that a “couple of guys were hit, but they came back, and they’re supposed to be in pretty good shape.”
A US helicopter was also damaged but flown out, he added.
Mr Trump said the raid on Venezuela “sends a signal we’re not going to be pushed around as a country any more” and warned Mexico that it too needed to crack down on drug traffickers.
US officials joined in the triumphalism, while brushing off concerns about whether the operation to capture a foreign leader was legal.
“You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas,” US Vice-President J.D. Vance said on social media platform X.
He said Mr Trump had given the Venezuelan leader “multiple off-ramps” and added that Mr Maduro was the “newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says”.
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 and 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.
Mr Trump’s administration in August 2025 doubled a reward for information leading to his capture to US$50 million (S$64 million), accusing him of leading the alleged “Cartel of the Suns” drug trafficking organisation.
Mr Trump has given differing arguments for his campaign against Venezuela, including the claim that the country is a major drug exporter to the US and that Venezuela seized US oil interests.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted a social media message from earlier in 2026 in which he said Maduro was not the legitimate president of Venezuela following elections that international observers said were riddled with irregularities.
The Maduro capture, along with US strikes on Nigeria on Christmas Day, also come despite Mr Trump billing himself as a “peace president” who should win the Nobel Prize.
Asked by reporters on New Year’s Eve what his resolution for 2026 was, Mr Trump replied: “Peace on Earth.” AFP
