Venezuelan golfer shares emotional message after Trump orders strike
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President Donald Trump has ordered a “massive strike” to capture Venezuela’s leader and transport him to the United States, where his administration plans to try him.
Delta Force, an elite special operations unit of the US Army, led the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a US official with knowledge of the matter told Fox News. The operation drew the reaction of athletes close to Venezuela, as well as those in the political arena.
Venezuelan golfer Jhonattan Vegas, who competes on the PGA Tour, was seen reacting to the events.
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Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas looks on from the 18th green at the 2025 PGA Championship 2025 Wentworth Golf Club on September 11, 2025 in Virginia Water, England. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
“Long live Venezuela, HERO LALLLLLLLLLLLLLL,” Vegas wrote about X in a post translated from Spanish.
Vegas, 41, is ranked 85th in the world. He achieved historic success at the 2025 PGA Championship, becoming the first Venezuelan to take the lead in one of the four major tournaments.
Vegas finished at 8-under-par after the first 36 holes to move to the top of the leaderboard at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May. He eventually finished the major in a tie for fifth.
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Vegas first became interested in golf when he was 2 years old.
“When I was a kid, I would hit anything I could find. Stones, broomsticks, anything,” he told reporters after the opening round of last year’s PGA Championship. “I would take anything I could swing and do that. I feel like I was a good athlete when I was a little kid, so that’s how it all started.
Jhonattan Vegas tees off on the 16th hole in the first round of the BMW Championship on August 14, 2025 in Owings Mills, Maryland. (Rafael Suanes/Imagn Images)
“We grew up near a nine-hole golf course owned by the oil companies and had access to a course, plus my dad’s love of the game, so we put those together and started playing.”
When Vegas became a teenager, he left Venezuela and moved to the United States. He learned English and later took his golf skills to the Texas Longhorns.
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Vegas further cemented his name in history by winning the Bob Hope Classic in 2011, making him the first Venezuelan to win a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. He also represented his country at the Olympics twice.
On Saturday, Trump described Maduro as “highly protected” at the presidential palace, a “heavily fortified military stronghold in the heart of Caracas.” Trump told reporters that Maduro almost reached a safe room but “couldn’t shut it down.”
President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday, January 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
In an interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend” early Saturday morning, Trump said American forces were armed with “massive welding torches” that they would have used to cut through the steel walls if Maduro had locked himself in the room.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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