US captures Venezuela’s leader and his wife in stunning operation and plans to prosecute them

2 months ago 24

Follow our live coverage of the unfolding situation in Venezuela here.

Caracas: The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and flew him out of the country in an extraordinary military operation early Saturday (Sunday AEST) that plucked a sitting leader from office. President Donald Trump insisted the US government would run the country at least temporarily and would tap Venezuelan’s vast oil reserves to sell “large amounts” to other countries.

The action marked the culmination of an escalating Trump administration pressure campaign on the South American country that consisted of months of strikes on boats officials said were smuggling drugs to the US Behind the scenes, US officials tracked Maduro’s behavioral habits, including what he ate and where he slept, in preparing to execute an operation that resulted in one of the more stunning regime changes in modern history.

Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after at least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas.

Maduro and his wife, seized overnight from their home on a military base, were aboard a US warship on their way to New York, where they were to face criminal charges in connection with a Justice Department indictment accusing them of a role in narco-terrorism conspiracy.

Trump said the US planned to run Venezuela until a transition of power can take place. He claimed the American presence was already in place, though there were no immediate signs the US was running the country. Venezuelan state TV continued to air pro-Maduro propaganda, broadcasting live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference where he boasted that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives”.

The legal authority for the attack, which echoed the 1990 US invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of leader Manuel Antonio Noriega, was not immediately clear. The US government does not recognise Maduro, who last appeared on state television on Friday while meeting with a delegation of Chinese officials in Caracas.

Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but the Justice Department released a new indictment on Saturday of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores that described the regime as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fuelled by a drug trafficking operation that flooded the US with cocaine.

Trump posted on his Truth Social account a photo that he said showed Maduro in custody, including blindfolded and in a sweatsuit.

Early morning attack

Early Saturday, multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the Venezuelan capital. Maduro’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets.

The attack lasted less than 30 minutes and the explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they’d seen and heard. Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, without giving a number. Trump said some US forces were injured in Venezuela but none were killed.

A fire burns at Fort Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, after a series of explosions in Caracas on Saturday.

“We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again, and again. not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong,” said Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed tracers and smoke clouding the landscape as repeated muted explosions illuminated the night sky. Other footage showed cars passing on a highway as blasts illuminated the hills behind them. The videos were verified by The Associated Press.

Smoke was seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.

Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández told The Associated Press that Maduro and Flores were at their home within the Fort Tiuna military installation when they were captured. “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.” Under Venezuelan law, Rodríguez would take over from Maduro. There was no confirmation that had happened, though she did issue a statement after the strike, demanding proof of life for Maduro and his wife.

The strike followed a months-long Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major build-up of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US began strikes in September.

In a demonstration of how polarizing a figure Maduro is, people variously took to the streets to deplore his capture and celebrate it.

At a protest in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas Mayor Carmen Meléndez joined a crowd demanding Maduro’s return.

Earlier, armed people and uniformed members of a civilian militia took to the streets of a Caracas neighborhood long considered a stronghold of the ruling party. In other parts of the city, the streets remained empty hours after the attack, as residents absorbed events. Some areas remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.

Questions of legality

The Armed Services committees in both houses of Congress, which have jurisdiction over military matters, have not been notified by the administration of any actions, according to a person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it.

Lawmakers from both political parties in Congress have raised deep reservations and flat-out objections to the US attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling near the Venezuelan coast and Congress has not specifically approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.