President Trump details US raid that captured Maduro in Venezuela
At a press conference, President Donald Trump detailed the U.S. military operation that detained President Nicolas Maduro and his wife overnight in Caracas.
In the early morning hours of January 3rd under a full moon in Caracas, the might of the US military was on full display.
Special operations helicopters roared through the skies at low altitude and exchanged fire with Venezuelan air defense forces as operators from the Army’s Delta Force flew to and from the camp where Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured.
Fighter planes and bombers supported the raiders, attacking air defense targets and other targets in Caracas and three coastal states.
And much of the Venezuelan capital was left only moonlit as US cyberwarfare operators and intelligence agencies disrupted the city’s power supply.
According to public comments and media reports from President Donald Trump’s administration, this is the outcome of Operation Absolute Resolve, the operation to capture Maduro.
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Air Force Gen. Dan “Razin” Cain, chairman of the Air Force Joint Chiefs of Staff, said preparations for the attack took months.
A group of CIA officials began a covert operation to track Maduro in August. Other parts of the intelligence community also turned their lenses on the Venezuelan leader, including the National Security Agency’s electronic interception capabilities and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s imagery analysts.
The Pentagon gradually built up U.S. forces in the region, first deploying missile-carrying ships and surface naval task forces, then fighter jets, then aircraft carriers, then fighter jets, and so on, until a large armada was deployed.
Army special operators tasked with the mission built a replica of Maduro’s compound and conducted extensive training, much like they did during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.
“We rehearse a lot, not to get it right, but to make sure we don’t get it wrong,” Kane said.
Kane said the pieces were in place as early as “early December.” However, choosing the right day for the mission proved difficult.
Kane said the military was hoping for good weather for the dangerous helicopter flight. Mr. Maduro also needed to be in a place where U.S. forces, including civilians, could kidnap him with minimal risk.
On the night of January 2nd, conditions proved favorable and President Trump issued the “go” order at 10:46 pm ET.
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The raiding force, which included law enforcement officers, entered Venezuela in at least seven helicopters, flying about 100 feet above the Caribbean Sea.
Pilots from the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, whose motto, “Night Stalker Never Quits,” echoed by Kane in a partially thinly veiled shout during a news conference, overcame mountains, a low cloud ceiling and enemy artillery fire on their way to President Maduro’s compound.
President Trump said Venezuela’s military was “extremely ready.” However, the timing of the American military mission was unexpected and Maduro’s forces were “completely overwhelmed and quickly neutralized.”
Witnesses captured footage of a helicopter flying across the sky over Caracas as the sound of explosions illuminated the mountains in the distance. More than 150 aircraft participated in the operation, including fighters and bombers from the Marine Corps, Navy, Active Duty Air Force, and Air National Guard.
Another civilian witnessed a U.S. military helicopter firing rockets at an unknown ground target.
The attack force landed at President Maduro’s compound at 1:01 a.m. ET.
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The attack unfolded rapidly in darkness.
President Trump said the compound was “more like a fortress than a home.”
Mr. Maduro and Mr. Flores fled to a reinforced steel safe room. They were probably hoping that if they barricaded themselves there, crisis response forces would come to rescue them.
However, the American operators were aware of the room and were prepared to break in using blowtorches and other tools. President Trump claimed that special operators were able to break through the door in an average of 47 seconds during raid practice.
According to the president, the U.S. assault forces fought back violently with “massive gunfire.”
A small number of U.S. soldiers suffered gunshot and shrapnel injuries, but authorities said none of the injuries were life-threatening. One helicopter was hit by Venezuelan military fire, but “were able to fly,” Kane said.
Venezuela’s strongman did not make it to the safe room in time. President Maduro could not close the door.
“He was in a rush,” an ebullient President Trump declared in an interview on “Fox & Friends” Saturday morning.
After capturing Mr. Maduro and Mr. Flores, the raiding force had to fight its way out of Venezuelan airspace, Mr. Kane said.
By 3:29 a.m. ET, the helicopter was back over the Caribbean Sea.
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Maduro and Flores were taken by helicopter to the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, which serves as a floating base for Marines.
After initial hours of silence from the Pentagon and White House, President Trump announced Maduro’s arrest at 4:21 a.m. ET via a post on Truth Social.
He later shared a photo of the Venezuelan leader blindfolded on board, clutching a water bottle and wearing a gray Nike sweatsuit.
Maduro, long seen as a prudent survivor of the country’s political crisis, will next appear at a scheduled arraignment in New York federal court.
