Brutal Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro dramatically ‘seized by US as he tried to flee to panic room’

The US took control of Venezuela in dramatic fashion yesterday after catching the country’s president trying to hide in a panic room.

In a day that stunned the world, Donald Trump said the United States would now “run the country” until there was a proper transition of power. He added that American oil companies would be sent to Venezuela to fix the infrastructure and start bringing money into the country.

While warplanes launched airstrikes across the capital, US special forces descended from helicopters directly onto President Nicolas Maduro’s compound (Fort Tiuna) in central Caracas in an extraordinary attack in the early hours.

Overcoming dozens of armed guards during a fierce gunfight, the elite Delta Force reached Maduro, who escaped from his bedroom with his wife, Cilia Flores. ‘He came to the door’ [of the panic room]“He failed to shut it down,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr Trump, who watched the incident from his home in Florida, likened it to a ‘television show’ and claimed the military operation was the largest since the Second World War.

It was unclear how the US proposes to govern Venezuela or whether that would involve an occupying military force, but Mr Trump said he was not afraid to ‘knock his shoes off’.

Maduro and his wife, defined as ‘narco-terrorists’ by the USA, will be tried in New York for drug and weapons crimes.

The 63-year-old dictator, whose regime is accused of thousands of extrajudicial killings, was being held in a detention center in Brooklyn last night. He was previously photographed wearing a blindfold and ear defenders aboard the USS Iwo Jima.

While warplanes carried out air strikes on the capital, US special forces landed from helicopters directly at Fort Tiuna, President Nicolas Maduro’s compound in central Caracas.

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Venezuela was experiencing a ‘new dawn’ and added: ‘The tyrant is gone. ‘He will now – finally – face justice for his crimes.’

Also, this was revealed yesterday:

• A CIA spy in Caracas tracked Maduro’s movements to facilitate the raid and got so close to the dictator that he even knew what kind of food he fed his pets;

• US special forces spent weeks rehearsing the capture of Maduro in a specially built replica of the presidential compound;

• Maduro spoke with Trump last week but rejected his request to resign peacefully;

• Trump refused to seek authorization from the US Congress because he feared the operation would be leaked;

• After the raid, he warned Cuba and Colombia and said that Colombia’s president should “be careful” because his country was smuggling cocaine to the United States.

Britain and France welcomed Maduro’s capture; Keir Starmer called him an illegitimate leader and said ‘we shed no tears over the end of his regime’.

President Emmanuel Macron said that the Venezuelan people were ‘freed from the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro and can only rejoice’. By seizing power and trampling on fundamental freedoms, [he] ‘He has seriously undermined the dignity of his own people.’

Elite Delta Force reached Maduro as he escaped from his bedroom with his wife Cilia Flores (pictured)

Armed supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro gathered near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas

Helicopters fly over clouds of smoke rising from explosions in Caracas on January 3, 2026

However, Russia called Maduro’s arrest an ‘act of armed aggression’ and China accused the US of violating international law and threatening ‘peace and security’ in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Speaking at a press conference, the victorious Donald Trump said ‘the armed forces have carried out an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela. [with] America’s overwhelming military power. ‘A spectacular attack was launched using air, land and sea, an attack not seen by humans since the Second World War.’

More than 150 bombers, fighter planes and reconnaissance planes were used in the raid that plunged Caracas into darkness. American forces dismantled and disabled air defense systems ‘to ensure the safe passage of helicopters’ used to remove Nicolas Maduro.

On the other hand, air strikes on Caracas, including military bases, in the early hours of yesterday morning lit up the night sky.

US helicopters came under fire as they approached the Venezuelan leader’s compound at 2am local time (6am UK time). One was hit but continued flying.

Mr Trump said the Venezuelan leader’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was now in power but had promised to do ‘anything’ the US wanted. But he denied this claim, denying US intervention and demanding Maduro’s return.

Previously, Venezuela’s state television broadcast rallies and protests in several cities, including Caracas. Maduro’s supporters have vowed to defend their country against what they describe as an illegal attack and the kidnapping of their leader.

Mr Trump said at the press conference that “the people standing behind me”, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, would help run the country.

And he warned: ‘All political and military figures [in Venezuela] They should keep in mind that what happened to Maduro could happen to them too.’

Donald Trump (pictured next to CIA Director John Ratcliffe and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio) said the US will now “run the country” until a proper transition of power is achieved

A destroyed anti-aircraft unit at La Carlota military air base in Caracas (Pictured on January 3, 2026)

He added that if necessary, there could be a second wave of attacks against the country. Asked whether the US military would maintain a presence in Venezuela, he added: ‘No, we will have a presence in Venezuela as it relates to oil.’

Mr. Rubio said Maduro was viewed by many administrations as an “illegitimate president.” “He’s an American fugitive from justice with a $50 million bounty,” he jokes: “I think we saved $50 million.”

He added: ‘Maduro had multiple opportunities to avoid this; He was offered very, very, very generous offers and instead chose to act like a wild man.’

Maduro set the tone for his socialist presidency by saying in 2013 that anyone who voted against him would fall victim to an ancient curse. This was dismissed as crazy rhetoric at the time, but the former bus driver regime was later accused of using ‘death squads’ to instill terror in its opponents.

Hyperinflation and chronic famines caused the country’s economy to collapse under his rule. Millions of Venezuelans have fled abroad due to fraudulent elections and a harsh crackdown on protests.

He was soon ranked as one of the world’s worst dictators, but not everyone saw him as a pariah. He considered former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn a friend.

Maduro saw himself as the ‘son’ of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, who became a flamboyant symbol of anti-Americanism.