Inside Operation ‘Absolute Resolve’: The meticulous months-long plan to seize Maduro and the harrowing escape under fire

US spies had followed Nicolas Maduro’s every move for months, and in the end he was a sitting duck.

There was a mole inside America and a CIA team had been on the ground for months. Senior US general Dan ‘Raizin’ Caine later revealed that he and his wife, Cilia Flores, knew where they lived, when and where they traveled, what clothes they wore, what food they ate, even what pets they had.

Information gleaned from these surveillances allowed the United States to build a replica of Maduro’s fortress-like safe house and begin practicing for Operation Absolute Resolve, a daring raid to capture the leader of a hostile foreign regime on its own soil.

Shortly before New Year’s dawn, 150 aircraft at 20 U.S. bases in the western hemisphere were deployed and ready, awaiting the green light from President Donald Trump.

The massive operation involved F-22 Raptors, F-35s, F/A-18 Hornets, EA-18 electronic warfare planes, E-2 command and control planes, B-1 bombers, helicopters, refueling planes and numerous remote-controlled drones.

It was supposed to be a meticulously orchestrated ‘ballet in the sky’, but it was fraught with potential pitfalls, one analyst said.

According to Caine, if “just one component of this well-oiled machine” had failed, it could have jeopardized the entire mission.

The extremely complex plan required the planes to fly into Venezuela at low altitude, and the weather had to be perfect, especially to avoid the risk of civilian casualties.

An explosion occurred in Caracas early on Saturday morning during the US military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

President Trump received constant updates on the weather during his extended stay at Mar-a-Lago over Christmas.

One of the major challenges was keeping the upcoming raid secret. To prevent leaks, members of Congress were not notified in advance.

On New Year’s Eve, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was fully involved in the preparations, was captured on video happily singing along to Pitbull’s Fireball at Mar-a-Lago. The Florida native remained with the president while the plans were finalized.

This gigantic undertaking was successfully kept secret, as the clouds did not part for four days. Then, on Friday, January 3, it became clear that the weather would change at night, opening a clear-sky path to Venezuela.

Caine later told a press conference: ‘The weather had deteriorated sufficiently to have cleared the way for only the most skilled aviators in the world to pass.

A senior administration official told the Daily Mail that mission operations were quietly launched at Mar-a-Lago.

Most of the president’s weekend special guests had already left following the New Year’s holiday festivities.

Vice President J.D. Vance spent Christmas at his home in Cincinnati. He attended several late-night meetings via secure video conferencing, then He met with President Trump on Friday at his golf club in West Palm Beach to discuss the strikes, a spokesperson for the Vice President told the Daily Mail.

Vance was not at Mar-a-Lago Friday night because of concerns that convoy movement late at night while the operation was ongoing could alert Venezuelans. The spokesman said he attended via secure video conference throughout the night to monitor the operation.

Attorney General Pam Bondi was also involved in the operation from the beginning and watched the capture live from U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, a senior administration official told the Daily Mail.

An hour later, at 10:46pm US Eastern time in Venezuela, President Trump gave the order and sent a message to everyone in attendance: ‘Good luck and for God’s sake.’

Bombers, fighter planes, reconnaissance and surveillance planes took off.

The youngest crew member on the ship was 20 years old and the oldest was 49 years old.

US Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jets participated in the operation

In the images published by Jose Abreu on his X account @Jabreu89, smoke can be seen rising over Caracas.

Chief of Staff Dan Caine explains details of the raid during a press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 03, 2026

The helicopters took off with the landing force that would capture Maduro, including members of Delta Force, the military’s elite direct action unit, and law enforcement officers who would serve an arrest warrant on drug charges.

Space Command and Cyber ​​Command also took over as the helicopters flew just 30 meters above the water.

When turning off lights on the ground in Venezuela, planes are believed to have disabled air defense systems to allow helicopters to enter the target area.

According to Caine, before reaching the objective, the landing force, whose exact size remained unclear, flew behind a final area of ​​high ground and it was only when they emerged that they were finally detected.

They had successfully preserved the element of surprise.

Venezuelans celebrate after President Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured and sent out of the country on Saturday, January 3, 2026, in Lima, Peru.

An hour later, they arrived at the scene at Maduro’s palace at 1:01 a.m. Eastern time, rappelling from helicopters.

They came under fire and returned fire with what Caine described as ‘overwhelming force’.

Speaking to ground forces through headsets, intelligence teams were able to guide them through the compound and planes provided cover overhead.

Delta Force was equipped with flashlights and would make it through the gate in an estimated 47 seconds.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia were captured by a US military unit in the early hours of Caracas; Maduro will now face drug and weapons charges in the US

A bus with its windows blown out was seen in Caracas early on Saturday. Venezuela’s attorney general said “innocent people” were “fatally injured” in the attacks, but did not provide further details or the number of people injured or killed.

When Maduro located him, he tried to reach safe shelter behind a huge metal door amid gunfire.

According to President Trump, he managed to get to the other side but was unable to close the door in time. Maduro and his wife later gave up.

One plane was shot down but remained operational and eventually managed to fly home.

By 3:39 a.m. Eastern time, the helicopters were back on the water with Maduro and his wife on their way to the USS Iwo Jima.

‘We watched, we waited, we stayed prepared,’ Caine said. ‘This was a daring operation that only the United States could do. It required the utmost precision.’