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• Trump hails overnight ‘large-scale’ operation that took president and his wife into custody
• Couple indicted on drug and weapon charges
• Washington will ‘govern Venezuela until transition takes place’
• Allies and foes alarmed
• Caracas calls for resistance, demands emergency UNSC meeting
WASHINGTON: The US attacked Venezuela and captured its long-serving President Nicolas Maduro in an overnight operation on Saturday, President Donald Trump said, in Washington’s most direct intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama.
“This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American might and competence in American history,” Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he was flanked by senior officials, including Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump said Maduro was in custody and that American officials would take control of Venezuela.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he said.
“We can’t take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the interests of Venezuelans in mind.”
In a Truth Social post earlier in the day, Trump wrote: “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.”
He added that “this operation was done in conjunction with US law enforcement”.
Speaking at the press conference, Trump said: “All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless as the men and women of the US military, working with law enforcement, successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night.”
Moreover, he said that the US military caused a blackout in Caracas to execute the operation to capture Maduro.
“It was dark. The lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have,” Trump said.
He added that the US is ready to launch a second and much larger wave of attacks if needed, adding that Washington assumed a second wave would be necessary. “The first wave … was so successful we probably don’t have to do a second, but we’re prepared to do a second wave, a much bigger wave,” Trump stated.
Continuing his address, Trump said that Venezuela’s oil industry “was a bust” and that US oil companies would come in, repair the oil infrastructure and “start making money for the country”.
‘Being sent to New York’
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken to a ship after their capture by US forces and will be transported to New York.
“They were indicted in New York and they will be taken to New York,” he said, stating that the Venezuelan president and his wife were aboard the USS Iwo Jima.
The White House posted a photograph of Maduro aboard the vessel wearing a blindfold and ear defenders, which Trump also shared on Truth Social.
In a brief phone interview with The New York Times, Trump hailed the “brilliant” operation.
Speaking on Fox News, Trump praised his team for the operation and described watching the operation as it took place.
“I watched it like I was watching a television show,” he said. “If you would have seen the speed and the violence … it was an amazing thing and an amazing job these people did.”
Elaborating on watching the operation unfold, he said that it was an “extremely complex manoeuvre” and that multiple helicopters were employed.
“We watched it and we watched every aspect of it,” Trump said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It was amazing to see the professionalism, the quality of leadership.”
The US president did mention that there were “a few injuries on our side”, but noted that no American personnel were killed.
When asked if he would fully support Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado taking power, Trump noted that there is already a Venezuelan vice president but slammed the Venezuelan elections as “rigged”.
“People have little loyalty, if any loyalty to him [Maduro],” Trump said.
Trump further said that Washington will be “very strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry.
“We have the greatest oil companies in the world, the biggest, the greatest, and we’re going to be very much involved in it,” he said.
Indicted
In a post on X, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Maduro and his wife, Flores, had been charged in the Southern District of New York.
The charges include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the US.
Similarly taking to X, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote: “A new dawn for Venezuela! The tyrant is gone. He will now — finally — face justice for his crimes.”
US Senator Mike Lee said the country had completed its military action, quoting Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Earlier, Venezuelan Vice President Rodriguez said the government does not know the whereabouts of President Maduro or Flores, in an audio played on state TV.
“We demand immediate proof of life of President Nicolas Maduro and the first combatant Cilia Flores,” Rodriguez said.
The operation has sparked alarm across the international community, with allies and foes of Washington and Caracas expressing disquiet.
Russia demanded the US leadership “reconsider its position and release the legally elected president of the sovereign country and his wife”.
Beijing said “China is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the US’s blatant use of force against a sovereign state and its action against its president”.
Iran said it “strongly condemns the US military attack on Venezuela and a flagrant violation of the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
UNSC meeting
Venezuela has since demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the US attacks.
“Faced with the criminal aggression committed by the US government against our homeland, we have requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council, which is responsible for upholding international law,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil wrote on Telegram.
It was unclear if the US would now stand back while other senior figures in Venezuela’s ruling party — like Vice President Delcy Rodriguez — fill the void or if there would be pressure for their ouster as well.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López called for a united front of resistance in the face of “the worst aggression” ever against Venezuela.
Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2026
