THE United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early on 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. There was no confirmation that 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.

 

The United States Justice Department on Saturday released a new indictment of Maduro and his wife. In the new video, Maduro is accused of leading a “corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.” It alleges that the drug trafficking efforts “enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.” US authorities allege that Maduro partnered with “some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world” to bring tons of cocaine into the US, according to the indictment. 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. 

 

 

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump told Fox News on Saturday that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were aboard US warship Iwo Jima and headed to New York, where they will face prosecution. The US carried out the lightning military strike on Venezuela early Saturday, capturing President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and spiriting them out of the country. American officials say the pair will face narco-terrorism charges in US courts. In the interview Saturday morning Trump said that the US will be making decisions on what is next for Venezuela. “We’ll be involved in it very much” as to who will govern the country, Trump said. “We can’t take a chance in letting somebody else run and just take over what he left, or left off,” Trump said hours after the capture.