U.S. Strikes Venezuela And Says Its Leader, Maduro, Has Been Captured And Flown Out Of The Country

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Hours after a daring military operation Removed leader Nicolás Maduro from power President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would rule Venezuela at least temporarily and use its vast oil reserves to sell to other countries.

The dramatic action capped the Trump administration’s intense pressure campaign and months of secret planning against the South American nation and its autocratic leader, culminating in America’s most ambitious action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts immediately raised questions About whether the operation is legal or not.

Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump announced plans to exploit the leadership vacuum to “fix” the country’s oil infrastructure and sell “massive quantities” of oil to other countries.

Maduro and his wifeSeized overnight from their homes on a military base, they were initially taken aboard a US warship to stand trial for a Justice Department indictment accusing them of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy. A plane carrying the ousted leader landed in New York on Saturday afternoon.

In his speech, Venezuela’s vice president demanded that the United States release Maduro and called him the true leader of the country.

The legal authority for the attack, which was carried out without congressional approval, was not immediately clear, but the Trump administration has supported his impeachment as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the United States. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control over oil.

Trump claimed the US government would help run the country and was already doing so, but there was no immediate sign of that. Venezuelan state television continued to broadcast pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live footage of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.

“We will govern until we can achieve a safe, appropriate and reasonable transition,” Trump said at the Mar-a-Lago press conference, boasting that this “highly successful operation should serve as a warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”

Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges in 2020, but the Justice Department on Saturday issued a new indictment against Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, painting the regime as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug trafficking operation that flooded the United States with cocaine. The US government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.

Trump posted a photo on social media showing Maduro in sweatpants and blindfolded aboard the USS Iwo Jima.

The operation follows months of efforts by the Trump administration to pressure the Venezuelan leader, including a massive buildup of American forces in waters off South America and attacks on boats accused of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Last week the CIA was behind an incident. drone attack The attack on a docking area believed to be used by Venezuelan drug cartels is the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the United States began its strike in September.

Maduro has previously condemned military operations as thinly disguised. effort to remove him from power.

The Venezuelan operation, 36 years after the 1990 US invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and capture of leader Manuel Antonio Noriega, took place under the cover of darkness in the early hours of Saturday; Trump said the US had turned off “almost all the lights” in the capital Caracas and that forces were moving to remove Maduro and his wife.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces had been rehearsing maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro — where he was, what he ate, as well as details about his pets and clothing.

“We think, we develop, we practice, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse over and over again,” Caine said. “Not to get it right, but to make sure we can’t get it wrong.”

Multiple explosions were heard and low-flying planes flew over Caracas early on Saturday. Maduro’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military facilities, calling it an “imperialist attack” and calling on citizens to take to the streets.

The attack lasted less than 30 minutes and included explosions (at least seven explosions). made people run to the streetsSome reported what they saw and heard on social media. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said some Venezuelan civilians and military members were killed, without giving figures. Trump said some US forces were injured but none died.

Video from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed trails and smoke blurring the landscape as repeated silent explosions lit up the night sky. Other images showed cars passing on the highway as explosions illuminated the hills behind them. The videos have been verified by the Associated Press.

While smoke was rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, another military facility in the capital was seen to be without electricity.

According to Venezuelan law, Rodriguez would take over from Maduro. But Rodríguez insisted in a statement to state television on Saturday that he did not plan to come to power. He called for Maduro’s release and declared him president.

“There is only one president in Venezuela and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros,” he said.

Venezuela’s ruling party has been in power since 1999, when Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, took office; He promised to lift up the poor people and then implement what he called a socialist revolution.

Maduro took over when Chavez died in 2013. His re-election in 2018 was widely considered a fraud, with the main opposition parties barred from participating. During the 2024 election, election officials loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after the polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost by a margin of more than 2 to 1.

In a demonstration that showed what a polarizing figure Maduro is, people took to the streets in various ways to protest and celebrate his capture.

At a protest in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas Mayor Carmen Meléndez joined the crowd demanding the return of Maduro.

“Maduro, wait, the people are rising!” the crowd chanted. “We’re here, Nicolás Maduro. If you can hear us, we’re here!”

Earlier, gunmen and uniformed members of civilian militias had taken to the streets of the Caracas neighborhood, long considered a stronghold of the ruling party.

In other parts of the city, the streets remained empty after the attack and citizens absorbed the events. Some areas remained without electricity, but vehicles moved freely.

“How do I feel? I’m scared like everyone else,” said Caracas resident Noris Prada, sitting on an empty street looking at his phone. “Venezuelans woke up in fear, many families could not sleep.”

In Santiago, Chile’s capital, people waved Venezuelan flags and banged pots and pans as vehicles honked their horns.

In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point the crowd chanted “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”

Some legal experts expressed immediate concerns about the legality of the operation.

Acting on an urgent request from Colombia, the U.N. Security Council planned to hold a meeting Monday morning on U.S. operations in Venezuela, according to a council diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting that has not yet been made public.

Lawmakers from both political parties in Congress have expressed reservations and openly objected to U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling near the Venezuelan coast. Congress has not specifically authorized the use of military force for such operations in the region.

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he saw no evidence that would justify Trump attacking Venezuela without Congressional approval and demanded an immediate briefing from the administration on its “plan to stabilize the region and the legal justification for that decision.”

Toropin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda, Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price in Caracas, Venezuela, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, contributed to this report.