President Donald Trump revealed 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 on Truth Social, around two hours after explosions rocked Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.
There was no confirmation from Venezuela’s administration about the fate of Marxist President Nicolas Maduro, who has held power since 2013.
His government accused the United States of “extremely serious military aggression,” which came after Trump’s months-long campaign of increased military and economic pressure.
Around 2:00 a.m. (0600 GMT), Caracas was rocked by explosions and the sound of helicopters.
AFP journalists said that the explosions lasted nearly an hour.
Trump said that he would hold a news conference at 11:00 a.m. (1600 GMT) at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he is on vacation.
In a brief phone conversation with The New York Times, he praised a “brilliant” operation that required “a lot of good planning and a lot of great, great troops and great people.”
The raids targeted Venezuela’s main military facility, Fuerte Tiuna, located south of Caracas, as well as the Carlota airbase in the north.
According to AFP, flames and massive plumes of smoke were seen pouring from Fuerte Tiuna.
Blasts were also heard near La Guaira, north of the capital, which houses Caracas’ airport and port.
“I felt like (the explosions) lifted me out of bed, and I immediately thought, ‘God, the day has come,’ and I cried,” María Eugenia Escobar, a 58-year-old resident of La Guaira, told AFP.
“Venezuela rejects, repudiates, and denounces before the international community the extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and people,” the government said.
The government claimed Maduro had declared a state of emergency, but the 63-year-old socialist was nowhere to be seen.
The defense ministry accused the US of targeting civilian areas and declared a “massive deployment” of its military forces.
Gustavo Petro, the socialist president of neighboring Colombia, called on X to convene an emergency United Nations meeting and stated that he was moving troops to Venezuela’s border.
As the strikes began in the dark of night, Caracas residents flocked to their windows and terraces to try to make sense of the situation.
Others hid in secure, windowless areas, afraid of smashing glass.
Social media users uploaded videos of helicopters silhouetted against the night sky.
Residents report that power has been interrupted in certain districts of Caracas.
Francis Pena, a 29-year-old communications specialist residing in eastern Caracas, told AFP that while he was asleep, his fiancée woke him up and screamed, “They’re bombing.”
“I can’t see the explosions, but I hear the planes. We’re starting to prepare a bag with the most important things at home—passport, cards, cash, candles, a change of clothes, canned food,” Pena said.
Trump, who ordered an aircraft carrier and warships to the Caribbean as part of what he claimed was an anti-drug smuggling campaign, had regularly threatened strikes on Venezuelan soil.
On Monday, he suggested it would be “smart” for Maduro to step down, after his re-election in 2024 was widely criticized by the world community as illegitimate.
He further claimed that the United States had targeted and destroyed a docking location for supposed Venezuelan drug boats.
Maduro stated Thursday that he was willing to work with Washington.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of leading a drug cartel, but the Venezuelan leader has denied any role in the narcotics trade, claiming Washington is attempting to destabilize him because Venezuela has the world’s largest known oil reserves.
In an apparent attempt to drive him out, Washington has informally closed Venezuela’s airspace in recent weeks, imposed further sanctions, and ordered the seizure of tankers carrying Venezuelan oil.
Since September, the US military has conducted numerous strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, allegedly targeting narcotics smugglers.
The strikes killed at least 107 individuals, according to the US military.
