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BREAKING: United States Strikes Venezuela and Captures Nicolas Maduro and his Wife

The Venezuelan leader and his wife are now indicted in the Southern District of New York. Further details coming soon.

Aaron Parnas Jan 3

The United States launched a dramatic, large-scale military operation against Venezuela early Saturday, with President Donald Trump announcing that U.S. forces had carried out coordinated strikes and “captured” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. I just woke up and am getting you this update in real time. Subscribe to support my work if you can, it is going to be a very long Saturday, and I will bring you realtime updates throughout the day.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Maduro and his wife had been flown out of the country following the operation. He added that further details would be released at 11 a.m. ET. The claim immediately sent shockwaves through the region and sparked urgent international reactions, as Venezuelan officials disputed the account and demanded proof that their president was alive.

Venezuela’s vice president called on Washington to provide evidence of Maduro’s condition and whereabouts, as reports emerged of explosions rocking the capital, Caracas, and surrounding areas in the early hours of Saturday. Residents described a series of blasts that echoed across the city, underscoring the scale of the overnight action.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro would be brought to the United States to “face the full wrath of American justice on American soil,” citing an existing indictment that includes charges such as narco-terrorism. The Justice Department has long accused senior figures in the Venezuelan government of ties to drug trafficking, allegations Caracas has repeatedly denied.

Saturday’s operation follows months of escalating U.S. pressure on Venezuela. Washington has steadily increased its military presence in the Caribbean, intercepted Venezuelan crude oil tankers, and carried out strikes on vessels it alleges were transporting drugs. Trump has repeatedly urged Maduro to step down, and in a Dec. 18 interview with NBC News, he said the possibility of war with Venezuela was “on the table.” Here is a video of the strikes:

Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, accused the United States of killing innocent civilians in Saturday’s strikes, sharply escalating the war of words between Caracas and Washington. Speaking on state broadcaster Venezolana de Televisión, Saab repeated demands for proof that President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were alive following U.S. claims they had been captured and flown out of the country. “I hold the government of the United States of America directly responsible for any circumstance that may befall our President and leader of the Bolivarian Revolution,” Saab said. All flights out of Puerto Rico have also been cancelled.

The crisis is rooted in Venezuela’s contested July 2024 presidential election, after which thousands of people were arrested amid sometimes violent protests. Opposition leaders and international observers said the vote was stolen in Maduro’s favor, a claim the government has rejected.

Allies moved quickly to distance themselves from the U.S. action. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom was not involved. “It is obviously a fast-moving situation and we need to establish all the facts,” he said in remarks recorded for U.K. broadcasters, adding that he had not spoken with Trump since the reported capture of Maduro.

In Brussels, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for restraint and respect for international law. Writing on Twitter, she said she had spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the EU’s ambassador in Caracas, and that the bloc was closely monitoring developments. The EU has repeatedly said Maduro “lacks legitimacy” and has advocated a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela.

Questions also mounted in Washington over the legal basis for the operation. According to The New York Times, Trump declined to say whether he sought congressional approval before launching the strikes and seizing Venezuela’s leader. “We’ll discuss that,” he told the newspaper in a brief phone interview, adding that a news conference would follow.

This is from Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee:

“Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, but I have seen no evidence that his presidency poses a threat that would justify military action without Congressional authorization, nor have I heard a strategy for the day after and how we will prevent Venezuela from descending into chaos. Secretary Rubio repeatedly denied to Congress that the Administration intended to force regime change in Venezuela. The Administration must immediately brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”

Trump praised the forces involved in the mission, citing “good planning” and “great, great troops and great people.” As governments around the world scrambled to assess the claims and their consequences, the situation remained fluid, with confirmation of Maduro’s fate and the broader implications for regional stability still unclear.