Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro ‘captured’ after huge US military strikes

The United States says it has carried out a “large scale military strike” against Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro in a major escalation after months of US threats to use military force against Caracas.

US President Donald Trump announced the strike on social media early on Saturday, saying Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were “captured and flown out of the Country”.

In an interview with Fox News later in the day, Trump said the operation “could not have been better”. He also said the US government would be “very much” involved in deciding what happens next in Venezuela.

“We’re making that decision now. We can’t take a chance on letting somebody else run it and just take over where he left off,” Trump said.

The US strikes come amid a months-long pressure campaign against Venezuela that saw the Trump administration deploy military assets to the Caribbean and carry out several deadly attacks on alleged drug-trafficking boats.

Washington, which has accused Maduro without evidence of being linked to drug cartels, had said its push aimed to curb drug smuggling into the US.

Maduro had denied any involvement in drug trafficking, accusing Trump of seeking to depose him and gain access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

In a statement posted on X on Saturday, Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Maduro and his wife had been indicted in the Southern District of New York.

Maduro has been charged with “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy”, among other charges, Bondi said.

It was unclear if his wife is facing the same charges, but Bondi referred to the couple as “alleged international narco traffickers”.

“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” she added.

‘Remain united’

The Trump administration’s actions drew fierce condemnation from Venezuela, with Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez saying “the Nation will prevail”.

“We will not negotiate; we will not give up. We will remain one united people behind one purpose: victory,” Lopez said in a statement on Saturday morning, stressing that Venezuela’s independence is not up for negotiations.

He said the total mobilisation of the Venezuelan armed forces had been ordered. “We must maintain calm and [be] united in order to prevail in these dire moments. We must not plunge into panic, as our enemy aims to achieve,” he added.

The exact whereabouts of Maduro and his wife were not immediately known, as Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez had earlier called on the US to issue “proof of life” of Maduro.

Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernandez told The Associated Press news agency that the couple were captured at their home at the Fort Tiuna military installation in Caracas.

“That’s where they bombed,” he said. “And, there, they carried out what we could call a kidnapping of the president and the first lady of the country.”

Maduro’s government had declared a national state of emergency in response to the US bombings, which it described as a “military aggression”.

Venezuela said the attacks occurred in the capital, Caracas – where explosions had been heard and plumes of smoke were seen rising – as well as in the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira.

The South American country also accused Washington of staging the assault in an attempt to seize Venezuela’s oil and mineral resources, pledging that such efforts “will not succeed”.

Attacks against international law: Experts

Tensions between Caracas and Washington have been steadily rising amid the Trump administration’s attacks on boats in the Caribbean that it said were transporting illegal drugs.

The US president had also threatened to carry out attacks in Venezuelan territory over its unsubstantiated allegations that Maduro was linked to drug cartels.

Trump, who is expected to hold a news conference later on Saturday morning to address the capture of Maduro, has justified his administration’s actions as part of an effort to combat international drug trafficking.

In a statement on X, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Venezuela was experiencing a “new dawn” after Maduro’s capture. “The tyrant is gone. He will now – finally – face justice for his crimes,” Landau said.

But legal experts have condemned the US boat strikes as amounting to extrajudicial killings.

On Saturday, Ben Saul, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, also slammed what he called Washington’s “illegal aggression against Venezuela” and the “illegal abduction” of its president.

“Every Venezuelan life lost is a violation of the right to life. President Trump should be impeached & investigated for the alleged killings,” Saul wrote on social media.

Phil Gunson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group based in Caracas, compared the capture of Maduro to the fall of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega on January 3, 1990, which was also orchestrated by the US.

“It’s not legal,” Gunson said of Maduro’s capture.

Several leaders in Latin America also raised serious concerns about the US actions on Saturday, with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva saying the US bombings and capture of Maduro crossed “an unacceptable line”.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also condemned the attacks, noting in a social media post that Article 2 of the UN Charter says member states must refrain “from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”.

Maduro had offered talks

Maduro, who declared victory in a 2024 election that was widely believed to be fraudulent, had indicated earlier this week that he was open to negotiating a deal with the US to combat drug trafficking.

“Wherever they want and whenever they want,” Maduro told Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet of the idea of dialogue with the US on drug trafficking, oil and migration, in an interview on state TV on Thursday.

He stressed that it is time for both nations to “start talking seriously, with data in hand”.

“The US government knows, because we’ve told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we’re ready,” he said.

His comments came after Trump said the US had carried out a strike on a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats last week, in the first known attack on Venezuelan territory of the US campaign.