Trump claims US has captured Venezuelan dictator and wife
Donald Trump claimed the US “captured” Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores and flew them out of the South American country following a pre-dawn attack on Caracas and the surrounding area.
“This operation was conducted in conjunction with US law enforcement. We will follow up on the details,” the US president wrote on social media Saturday morning after witnesses in Venezuela reported a series of explosions.
Recently, the Venezuelan government accused the United States of carrying out a series of attacks on civilian and military targets in the South American country, following explosions in the capital Caracas at dawn on Saturday.
In a statement, the Venezuelan government called on citizens to stand up against the attack and said Washington risked plunging Latin America into chaos with an “extremely serious” act of “military aggression.”
The statement said, “The whole country needs to be mobilized to defeat this imperialist aggression.”
US media reported that Trump ordered the attack on the South American country.
Explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas early on Saturday. The Venezuelan government confirmed in a statement that in addition to the city, three other states (Miranda, La Guaira and Aragua) were also attacked.
“The sole purpose of this attack is to seize control of Venezuela’s strategic resources, especially its oil and minerals,” he said, calling on the international community to condemn this incident, which he described as a clear violation of international law that puts millions of lives at risk.
Gustavo Petro, president of neighboring Colombia, claimed on social media that Venezuela was under attack. In his letter to X, Petro called for an urgent meeting of the UN security council and said, “They are currently bombing Caracas… with missiles.”
Shortly after, CBS News reported that Trump had ordered the attacks, including on military installations. The White House and Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the Associated Press, at least seven explosions were heard around 02:00 in the morning local time, and people in various neighborhoods ran to the streets. “The whole place shook. It’s scary. We heard explosions and planes in the distance,” said 21-year-old office worker Carmen Hidalgo.
Witnesses reported seeing smoke billowing from two key military installations in Caracas: the La Carlota military airport in the heart of the city and the Fuerte Tiuna military base, where Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro is long thought to have lived. It turned out that Higuerote, another important airport in the east of Caracas, would also be attacked.
The explosions came after a while Five-month US pressure campaign against MaduroMany analysts believe it was designed to oust the Venezuelan leader. Since August, Donald Trump has ordered a massive military buildup off Venezuela’s northern coast and launched a series of deadly airstrikes on so-called “narco boats.”
Trump has repeatedly promised ground operations in Venezuela amid efforts to expand sanctions, increase the US military presence in the region and pressure Maduro to leave office, which includes more than two dozen military assets. Strikes against ships alleged to be smuggling drugs in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
The United States also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump ordered a blockade of other tankers in a move that appeared designed to take a tighter grip on the South American country’s economy.
Colombian President Petro published what he claimed a partial list bombed facilities in Venezuela, including the 19th-century national parliament building in Caracas; La Carlota, the capital’s most important air base; and an air force base in the city of Barquisimeto.
Among the locations said to have been targeted was the Cuartel de la Montaña barracks in Caracas, the military base that houses the mausoleum of Maduro’s mentor Hugo Chávez. Anıtkabir is one of the most sacred places of Chavismo, the political movement that rules the country. Venezuelan Since 1999, when Chavez first came to power, an increasingly authoritarian attitude has been adopted. After Chavez’s death from cancer in 2013, his body was taken to the barracks and displayed to the public.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the US “criminal aggression” and claimed the region was brutally attacked. “[This is] State terrorism against the brave people of Venezuela and Our America,” Díaz-Canel, Maduro’s main regional ally, wrote.
