In a jaw-dropping turn of events that has the world talking, President Donald Trump and Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro are now at the center of one of the boldest international operations in decades. What happened early Saturday morning in Caracas reads like a military thriller—but it’s real, and it’s unfolding fast.
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Maduro And Wife Kidnapped Amid Explosions In Venezuela
Sources say Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were kidnapped from their home inside the Ft. Tiuna military base in the Venezuelan capital. U.S. forces reportedly tracked the couple for weeks, monitoring their routines, meals, and movements before swooping in under the cover of darkness. Within hours, they were aboard a U.S. warship, blindfolded and in custody, being flown toward New York to face criminal charges in a Justice Department indictment accusing them of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The capture came amid explosions and airstrikes across Caracas early Saturday. Eyewitnesses reported at least seven blasts, with smoke rising from military bases and hangars, while low-flying aircraft swept the city. Maduro’s government immediately condemned the action as an “imperialist attack,” claiming both civilian and military sites were hit and calling on Venezuelans to take to the streets. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed some casualties among military personnel and civilians, though exact numbers were not released.
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Trump Says U.S. Now In Charge Amid Maduro Capture
Trump, meanwhile, took to Truth Social to announce the operation. Additionally, he flaunted the capture, posting a photo of Maduro aboard the ship, blindfolded in a sweatsuit. The former president made it clear that the U.S. would be running Venezuela—at least temporarily. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said in a press conference.
The unprecedented operation marks the peak of a weeks-long Trump administration pressure campaign targeting Venezuela. Furthermore, Trump claimed Venezuela’s oil riches were “a total bust” under Maduro’s decades-long rule. Experts say the operation echoes the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, which led to the capture of Manuel Noriega. While Maduro had last appeared publicly just hours earlier, meeting with Chinese officials, the overnight operation now leaves his regime effectively dismantled. Furthermore, countless politicians and journalists have raised questions about the legality and global consequences of the Trump administration’s actions.
Maduro, Flores Charged In Decades-Long Narco-Terror Plot
Nicolás Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores, and top Venezuelan officials are now facing U.S. charges over alleged decades-long “drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies,” according to an indictment unsealed Saturday. Prosecutors claim that since at least 1999, the couple and their allies worked with international drug networks to funnel thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States. Bondi warned on social media that Maduro and Flores “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
The new indictment builds on a 2020 federal case accusing Maduro of running the infamous Cartel de los Soles. According to reports, they collaborated with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas and used Venezuela’s government to flood the U.S. with cocaine. Prosecutors say he even helped negotiate multi-ton shipments and supplied FARC with military-grade weapons, while coordinating with foreign governments like Honduras to keep the operation moving. And, just last year, the Trump administration designated the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization, ramping up pressure on the Venezuelan regime.
Watch Trump’s subsequent press conference following the capture below.
