Venezuela in turmoil after Trump announces capture of Maduro
The United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday and said its president had been captured and flown out of the country after months of intense pressure on Nicolas Maduro‘s government — an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by President Donald Trump on social media hours after the attack.
The legal authority for the strike — and whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand — was not immediately clear. The stunning, lightning-fast American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the US invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York. Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” Maduro was indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but it was not previously known that his wife had been.
Early Saturday, multiple explosions rang out, and low-flying aircraft swept through the Venezuelan capital. Maduro’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets. With Maduro’s whereabouts not known, the vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, would take power under Venezuelan law. No confirmation had happened, though she did issue a statement after the strike. “We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores,” Rodriguez said. “We demand proof of life.”
Maduro, Trump said, “has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with US Law Enforcement.” He set a news conference for later Saturday morning. The attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes, and the explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they’d seen and heard. It was not known if there were any deaths or injuries on either side or if more actions lay ahead, though Trump said in his post that the strikes were carried out “successfully.”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted on X that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had briefed him on the strike and said that Maduro “has been arrested by US personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.” The White House did not immediately respond to queries on where Maduro and his wife were being flown to. Maduro last appeared on state television on Friday while meeting with a delegation of Chinese officials in Caracas.
The strike came after the Trump administration spent months increasing the pressure on Maduro, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US began strikes in September.
As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35, and the number of people killed was at least 115, according to the Trump administration. Trump said that the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the US.
Maduro has decried the US military operations as a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.
Armed individuals and uniformed members of a civilian militia took to the streets of a Caracas neighbourhood long considered a stronghold of the ruling party. As daylight broke, some rallied while holding posters of Maduro. In other areas of the city, the streets remained empty hours after the attack. Parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.
Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed tracers and smoke clouding the landscape as repeated muted explosions illuminated the night sky. Other footage showed cars passing on a highway as blasts illuminated the hills behind them. The videos were verified by The Associated Press. Smoke was seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.
The website of the US Embassy in Venezuela, a post that has been closed since 2019, issued a warning to American citizens in the country, saying it was “aware of reports of explosions in and around Caracas.”
“US citizens in Venezuela should shelter in place,” the warning said.
[With inputs from Associated Press]
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Irrespective of any misdeeds of Venezuela President, the way USA acted on them is despicable & it adds another misdeed to long list of illegal & perverse acts of USA. Such acts cannot be justified by any logic / reason. Strong believer of karma, it will return to haunt USA one day.
World will have to keep quiet if Putin grabs Zelenesky and China grabs Taiwan. The only deterant is the nukes,