President Donald Trump stated the U.S. “efficiently carried out a big scale strike in opposition to Venezuela” and stated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse had been “captured and flown out of the Nation.”
The announcement on Trump’s social media platform got here shortly earlier than 4:30 a.m. Saturday just a few hours after a number of explosions had been heard in Venezuela’s capital metropolis of Caracas, witnesses stated, and photographs and movies confirmed plumes of smoke and a big fireball within the night time sky.
FILE PHOTO: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro waves whereas holding the hand of his spouse Cilia Flores throughout a ceremony to swear in new community-based organisations, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up strain on Maduro’s authorities, in Caracas, Venezuela, December 1, 2025.
Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters
Trump stated the operation was carried out at the side of U.S. regulation enforcement and stated he would maintain a information convention at 11 a.m. from Mar-a-Lago.
In a quick cellphone interview with The New York Instances, President Trump celebrated the success of the mission to seize Maduro.
“A whole lot of good planning and lot of nice, nice troops and nice folks,” Trump instructed The New York Instances. “It was a superb operation, really.”
When requested whether or not he had sought congressional authorization for the operation or what would come subsequent for Venezuela, Trump stated he would handle these issues throughout his information convention at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday morning.
The newest occasions come amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela together with a build-up of U.S. navy forces within the Caribbean and the focusing on of alleged drug-smuggling boats.
Night time view of Caracas taken after a sequence of explosions heard on January 3, 2026. Loud explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling plane flyovers, had been heard in Caracas round 2:00 am (0600 GMT) on January 3, an AFP journalist reported. The explosions come as US President Donald Trump, who has deployed a navy process drive to the Caribbean, raised the opportunity of floor strikes in opposition to Venezuela.
Federico Parra/AFP through Getty Photos
In the meantime, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued an alert prohibiting U.S. civil plane from flying over Venezuela “on account of safety-of-flight dangers related to ongoing navy exercise,” in accordance with the FAA.
The Venezuelan authorities issued an announcement condemning what it known as “the grave navy aggression perpetrated by the present authorities of america of America” in Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
(FILES) (COMBO) This mix of images created on August 07, 2025 reveals US President Donald Trump (L) in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2025, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) in Caracas on July 31, 2024.
Jim Watson,federico Parra/AFP through Getty Photos
As well as, President Nicolas Maduro ordered the implementation of nationwide protection plans, and declared a “state of Exterior Disturbance all through the nationwide territory,” in accordance with the assertion.
The U.S. has lengthy thought of Maduro the top of a corrupt dictatorial regime. In 2024, Maduro declared victory after a broadly disputed presidential election for a 3rd time period.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro arrives together with his spouse Cilia Flores to ship his annual speech to parliament in Caracas on January 15, 2025. President Donald Trump stated on January 3, 2026, that US forces had captured Venezuelan chief Nicolas Maduro after launching a “massive scale strike” on the South American nation.
Federico Parra/AFP through Getty Photos
In an unprecedented transfer in November, the Trump administration declared Maduro the head of a foreign terrorist organization, citing alleged hyperlinks to drug cartels, which Maduro denied. The designation put the Venezuelan chief on the identical listing as terror networks like al-Qaida and the Houthi insurgent group in Yemen.
In August, Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced the U.S. had elevated the reward for data resulting in Maduro’s arrest from $25 million to $50 million.
Maduro has confronted costs in america of narcotics-terrorism since 2020, when federal prosecutors in New York accused him of partnering with a Colombian insurgent group to “flood america with cocaine as a way to undermine the well being and wellbeing” of the nation.
Image of fireside at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest navy complicated, after a sequence of explosions in Caracas on January 3, 2026. Loud explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling plane flyovers, had been heard in Caracas round 2:00 am (0600 GMT) on January 3, an AFP journalist reported. The explosions come as US President Donald Trump, who has deployed a navy process drive to the Caribbean, raised the opportunity of floor strikes in opposition to Venezuela.
Luis Jaimes/AFP through Getty Photos
The fees embrace narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and weapons possession conspiracy. Prosecutors allege that Maduro and 14 present or former officers ran an enormous legal enterprise for the final 20 years, utilizing state assets to gasoline the worldwide drug commerce, together with within the U.S.
Republican Senator Mike Lee posted on X early Saturday morning saying that he spoke with Rubio over the cellphone concerning the actions being taken in Venezuela. In accordance with Lee, Rubio stated that Maduro had been arrested by U.S. personnel to face trial on legal costs in america, and that the kinetic motion was taken to guard these executing the warrant.
He additionally stated that Rubio instructed him he anticipates “no additional motion in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody”.
It is a creating story. Please test again for updates.
