WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that US forces had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro after launching a “large-scale strike” on the South American country.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,“ Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“This operation was done in conjunction with US law enforcement,” Trump added, saying he would give a news conference at 11:00am (1600 GMT; 9pm PKT) at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
In a brief phone interview with The New York Times, Trump hailed the “brilliant” operation.
“A lot of good planning and a lot of great, great troops and great people,” the paper quoted Trump as saying.
Later, in an interview with Fox News, Trump said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken to a ship after their capture by US forces and will be transported to New York.
Venezuela has since demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the US attacks.
“Faced with the criminal aggression committed by the US government against our homeland, we have requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council, which is responsible for upholding international law,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil wrote on the Telegram messaging platform.
It was unclear if the US would now stand back while other senior figures in Venezuela’s ruling party — like Vice President Delcy Rodriguez — fill the void or if there would be pressure for their ouster as well.
‘It was an amazing thing’: Trump
Speaking on Fox News, Trump praised his team for the operation and described watching the operation as it took place.
“I watched it like I was watching a television show,” he said. “If you would have seen the speed and the violence … it was an amazing thing and an amazing job these people did.”
Elaborating on watching the operation unfold, he said that it was an “extremely complex manoeuvre” and that multiple helicopters were employed.
“We watched it and we watched every aspect of it,” Trump said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It was amazing to see the professionalism, the quality of leadership.“
The US president did mention that there were “a few injuries on our side”, but noted that no American personnel were killed.
Trump further said that Washington will be “very strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry.
“We have the greatest oil companies in the world, the biggest, the greatest, and we’re going to be very much involved in it,” he said.
Maduro indicted on drug, weapon charges
In a post on X, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been charged in the Southern District of New York.
The charges include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.
“They (Maduro and Flores) will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” she wrote.
“On behalf of the entire US DOJ (Department of Justice), I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American people, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers.”
‘New dawn, the tyrant is gone’
“A new dawn for Venezuela! The tyrant is gone. He will now — finally — face justice for his crimes,” US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on X.
US Senator Mike Lee said the country had completed its military action, quoting Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“He anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in US custody,” Lee, a Republican initially critical of the operation, wrote on X after what he said was a telephone call with Rubio.
Rubio, meanwhile, uploaded a screenshot of one of his old posts on X today, which claimed Maduro was not the president of Venezuela.
The old post, dated July 27, 2025, reads: “Maduro is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.
“Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country. And he is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States,” Rubio added.
Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, situated in the south of Caracas, and Carlota airbase in the north, were among the targets of the strikes. Blasts were also heard in La Guaira, north of the capital, where Caracas’s airport and port are located.
A US official said Maduro was captured by elite US special forces troops.
Proof of life
Venezuelan Vice President Rodriguez said the government does not know the whereabouts of President Maduro or Flores, in an audio played on state TV.
“We demand immediate proof of life of President Nicolas Maduro and the first combatant Cilia Flores,” Rodriguez said.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López accused the United States of hitting residential areas.
The “invading” US forces “have desecrated our soil, going so far as to strike, using missiles and rockets fired from their combat helicopters, residential areas populated by civilians,” Lopez said in a video statement shared on social media.
He also said the South American country would launch a “massive deployment of all land, air, naval, riverine and missile capabilities … for comprehensive defence“. The defence minister called for a united front of resistance in the face of “the worst aggression” ever against Venezuela.
Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, meanwhile, said that the country “will overcome” the wave of US military strikes.
Considered one of the most powerful men in Caracas, Cabello told a local television broadcast, “At the end of these attacks, we will overcome,” adding that “this is not our first battle against our people… we have managed to survive under all circumstances“.
The opposition, headed by recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, had no immediate comment but has said for 18 months that it won the 2024 election and has a democratic right to take power.
However, her whereabouts, after recently fleeing Venezuela in disguise to pick up her Nobel prize, were unknown.
Separately, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he ordered the deployment of military forces to the Venezuelan border.
Petro described Washington’s actions as an “assault on the sovereignty” of Latin America and said they would result in a humanitarian crisis.
Petro made no mention of Maduro’s capture, despite the Venezuelan leader being one of his government’s closest allies in the region.
