US captures President Maduro in overnight raid, explosions occur in Caracas
Explosions occurred in Caracas and neighboring states as US forces occupied Maduro, Venezuela, amid claims of military invasion.
- President Trump said the United States launched a nighttime military attack on Venezuela, capturing the country’s leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
- Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro would face drug and weapons charges in the United States.
- Maduro’s attacks and seizures came after months of a U.S. military buildup in the region.
President Donald Trump announced on Saturday, January 3, that the United States had conducted a nighttime military strike against Venezuela and captured the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
The operation marks a dramatic escalation of action against Venezuela after months of heightened tensions and a military buildup by the United States.
Here’s what we know:
night military operations
In a social media post on Saturday, January 3, President Trump spoke of a “massive attack” on Venezuela. Videos from around the country showed explosions, vehicles ablaze and plumes of smoke in the capital Caracas and elsewhere. Witnesses reported the sound of a jet plane flying low. The extent of damage and casualties from the airstrike was not immediately known.
CBS News reported that members of the army’s elite Delta Force led the raid that captured the Maduros. Delta Force soldiers, considered the Army’s equivalent to the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, are trained to conduct counterterrorism operations and raids on high-value targets.
President Trump said he would hold a press conference at 11 a.m. ET at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Who is Nicolas Maduro?
Maduro, 63, has been Venezuela’s president since 2013. He was handpicked to succeed the country’s former leader, Hugo Chavez, and was elected president by a narrow margin after Chavez’s death.
His administration has overseen a spectacular economic collapse marked by hyperinflation and chronic shortages. His rule is best known for rights abuses, including election fraud, food shortages and a harsh crackdown on protests in 2014 and 2017, which led to millions of Venezuelans emigrating abroad.
He was sworn in for a third term in January 2025, following a 2024 election that was widely condemned as fraudulent by international observers and opposition groups.
President Maduro charges Trump administration with drug trafficking charges
Allegations of drug trafficking and corruption have been leveled against Maduro and his inner circle for years. During Trump’s first term, Maduro and several top officials and military commanders were charged with narco-terrorism and collaborating with Colombia’s leftist guerrilla group FARC to “flood” the United States with cocaine.
In July, the Trump administration sanctioned the so-called Cartel de los Soles, defining it as a “Venezuela-based criminal organization led by Nicolas Maduro Moros and other senior Venezuelan officials in the Maduro regime.” The government designated it a foreign terrorist organization.
According to data available from federal agencies and the United Nations, Venezuela is not a significant source of drugs, particularly fentanyl, entering the United States. And experts say the Cartel de los Soles does not actually exist as an organized drug cartel.
Maduro will ‘stand trial’ in US, senator says
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were indicted in the Southern District of New York over social media posts about X. Maduro is charged with “narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States,” Bondi wrote. Mr. Bondi did not specify the charges against Mr. Flores.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee said in a post on X that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Maduro he would “face trial on criminal charges in the United States.”
“(Mr. Rubio) informed me that Mr. Nicolás Maduro was arrested by U.S. military personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the violent actions we saw tonight were deployed to protect and defend the person executing the arrest warrant,” Lee wrote.
In a second post, Lee said Rubio “does not expect any further action in Venezuela as Mr. Maduro remains in U.S. custody.”
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton said he spoke with Marco Rubio on Saturday morning, January 3, and confirmed that Maduro is in U.S. custody and will face criminal charges.
The culmination of months of heightened tensions
The attack and seizure of President Maduro comes after months of American military buildup in the region, with a large U.S. fleet amassing in the southern Caribbean.
Since early September, the United States has carried out a series of attacks on suspected drug-trafficking ships in international waters in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, killing at least 115 people.
The campaign escalated in December and included the seizure of oil tankers traveling in and out of Venezuelan ports. And just days before the Jan. 3 attack, President Donald Trump authorized covert ground attacks on the nation’s port facilities.
Contributed by: Reuters
