The United States hit with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday, capturing the country’s president, , and flying him out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington.
President announced the details in a news conference Saturday morning.
“At my direction, the United States Armed Forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela,” he said.
“Air, land and sea was used to launch a spectacular attack.”
Trump claimed U.S. forces “successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night,” adding, “we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
Under Venezuelan law, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez would normally take power.
There was no confirmation that had happened, though she did issue a statement after the strike.
“We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores,” Rodríguez said. “We demand proof of life.”
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah posted on X that he had spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told him Maduro “has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.”
Multiple explosions rang out, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas, the capital, on Jan. 3.
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Maduro’s government immediately accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations.
The Venezuelan government condemned what it called an “imperialist attack” and urged citizens to take to the streets.
Although in the hours after the strikes, many Venezuelans were seen celebrating the capture of Maduro with new hopes for a free country.
James Story, the last U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, emphasized the scale of the criminality under Maduro.
“The Maduro regime is a criminal group masquerading as a government,” he said in an interview with Global News.
Story described the human toll of the crisis, “you have almost 9 million people who’ve had to flee Venezuela… This is a question of human rights, where this is a regime that’s under indictment for crimes against humanity.”
Rubio said Maduro “is not the president of Venezuela and his regime is not the legitimate government.”
Gen. Dan Caine described “Operation Absolute Resolve,” as, “discreet, precise and conducted during the darkest hours.”
He further explained that the strikes were a “culmination of months of planning and rehearsal, an operation that only the United States military could undertake.”
No American service member was killed, and no American equipment was lost, according to officials.
Trump added this is only the start of American involvement in the country.
“We are going to be taking a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground,” Trump said. “And that wealth is going to the people of Venezuela and the people outside of Venezuela and also to the United States of America in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused to us by that country.”
Trump described Maduro as the head of a criminal network responsible for trafficking vast amounts of drugs into the United States.
“Each boat kills, on average, 25,000 people,” he claimed.
The strikes came after months of pressure by the Trump administration, including attacks on boats suspected of carrying drugs and a recent CIA drone strike on a suspected cartel docking area.
The number of Venezuelan casualties is not immediately clear.
Videos from Caracas show buildings and military installations damaged, and multiple explosions were reported across the capital and nearby states.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre congratulated Trump on X, calling Maduro a “narco-terrorist and socialist dictator” and urging a transition to opposition leadership.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand also took to X with a statement that said Canada continues to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the Maduro regime and is “monitoring developments closely.”
“Canada calls on all parties to respect international law and we stand by the people of Venezuela,” Anand said in a statement.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney posted a statement on social media stating that, “We are first and foremost ready to assist Canadians through our consular officials and our embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, and will continue to support Venezuelan refugees.”
The Government of Canada has updated its travel advisory, urging citizens to avoid all travel to Venezuela, warning the situation is “tense and could escalate quickly.”
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