Trump: Maduro captured by the U.S. after a ‘large-scale strike’
(Background) A view of La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard on January 3, 2026, in Caracas, Venezuela. U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his country’s military had launched a “large-scale” attack on Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. (Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images) / (L) President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro speaks at a press conference on September 01, 2025, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images) / (R) U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 22, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)
Venezuelan Socialist President Nicolás Maduro, facing multiple criminal charges in the United States, has been captured by U.S. forces after a “large-scale strike” on the capital city of Caracas, President Donald Trump announced.
The U.S. Army’s Delta Force, an elite special forces unit, reportedly conducted the operation on Saturday to take Maduro and Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores into custody.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” President Trump stated on X. “This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow. There will be a News Conference today at 11 A.M., at Mar-a-Lago.”
President Trump announces the U.S. has "captured" Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife during a "large-scale" strike against the country.
Trump told The New York Times on the phone overnight that the move was “a brilliant operation, actually.”
The mission reportedly lasted less than 30 minutes. Multiple explosions — at least seven, the Associated Press said — were reported in Caracas, as well as sightings of low-flying aircraft, prompting the Venezuelan president to declare a state of emergency, as he had blamed the U.S. for the attack.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a notice an hour before the strikes began, barring pilots from traveling through Venezuelan airspace due to “safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity.”
In a phone call with Fox News on Saturday morning, Trump said that he watched the raid in real-time on video feeds from his Mar-a-Lago residence. He described the U.S. military breaking through steel doors to reach Maduro “in a matter of seconds.”
At the time of the attack, Maduro was attempting to escape to a “house that was more like a fortress,” Trump said.
He reported “few injuries,” but no deaths on the U.S. side as a result of the attack.
The attack was postponed for four days, the president said, due to imperfect weather.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, the country’s de facto leader in Maduro’s absence, has demanded “proof of life” from the U.S. after the strike.
“We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores,” Rodriguez stated on her regime’s state-run public television channel, Venezolana de Televisión (VTV — Venezuelan Television Corporation). “We demand proof of life.”
The Venezuelan dictator has been accused of narcoterrorism since Trump’s first administration, as the U.S. charged him with being a leader — if not the leader — of the Cártel de Los Soles (Cartel of the Suns). In this role, Maduro is allegedly responsible for negotiating multi-ton shipments of cocaine produced by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC — Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization.
The U.S. also accuses him of providing “military-grade weapons to the FARC,” coordinating “foreign affairs with Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking” and soliciting “assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cártel de Los Soles,” according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the swift indictment of Maduro and his wife early on Saturday on X.
“Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States,” Bondi wrote. “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 3, 2026
Vice President JD Vance responded to those on the left who question the legality of the mission.
“And PSA for everyone saying this was “illegal”: Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas,” Vance said on X.
And PSA for everyone saying this was "illegal":
Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don't get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.
Saturday’s mission is the culmination of months of building pressure on Maduro’s regime from the Trump administration, including a growing military presence in the region.
In September, the military launched “Operation Southern Spear,” a campaign of at least 35 deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.
Trump had been teasing that military action would begin on land “soon” since the Thanksgiving holiday.
Most recently, Maduro said that he was “ready” for “serious talks” with the U.S. government about the prevention of drug trafficking, which Trump ultimately rejected.
This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
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