{"id":48090,"date":"2026-01-04T14:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T14:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2026\/01\/04\/maduro-arrives-in-us-trump-says-operation-will-let-us-run-venezuela\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:24:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:24:58","slug":"maduro-arrives-in-us-trump-says-operation-will-let-us-run-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2026\/01\/04\/maduro-arrives-in-us-trump-says-operation-will-let-us-run-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"Maduro arrives in US, Trump says operation will let US \u2018run\u2019 Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation<\/a> that President Donald Trump<\/a> said would set the U.S. up to \u201crun\u201d the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maduro landed late Saturday afternoon at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital, Caracas<\/a> \u2014 an act that Maduro\u2019s government called \u201cimperialist.\u201d The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism<\/a> conspiracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela\u2019s autocratic leader<\/a> and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation<\/a>, which was done without congressional approval. Venezuela\u2019s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country\u2019s rightful leader as her nation\u2019s high court named her interim president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Rodr\u00edguez, who didn\u2019t give a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured, but no personnel were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro\u2019s capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to \u201cfix\u201d the country\u2019s oil infrastructure and sell \u201clarge amounts\u201d of oil to other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After arriving at a small airport in New York City\u2019s northern suburbs, Maduro was flown by helicopter to Manhattan, where a convoy of law enforcement vehicles, including an armored car, was waiting to whisk him to a nearby U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A video posted on social media by a White House account showed Maduro, smiling, as he was escorted through that office by two DEA agents grasping his arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump says US will \u2018run the country\u2019<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Government supporters burn a U.S. flag in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 3, 2026. (Ariana Cubillos\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump claimed the U.S. government would help lead the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate visible signs of that. Venezuelan state TV aired pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,\u201d Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference. He boasted that this \u201cextremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a \u201ccorrupt, illegitimate government\u201d fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels \u2014 the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early morning attack<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Taking place 36 years to the day after the 1990 surrender and seizure of Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega following a U.S. invasion, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump said the U.S. turned off \u201calmost all of the lights\u201d in Caracas while forces moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro \u2014 where he was and what he ate, as well as details of his pets and his clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again,\u201d Caine said. \u201cNot to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple explosions rang out that morning, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas. Maduro\u2019s government accused the United States of hitting civilian and military installations, calling it an \u201cimperialist attack\u201d and urging citizens to take to the streets. The explosions \u2014 at least seven blasts \u2014 sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/atype-video-jwplayer>
The US carried out what it called a “large scale strike” on Venezuelan soil early Saturday as part of an operation to capture President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X,<\/a> an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAirlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,\u201d he posted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Venezuelan law, Rodr\u00edguez would take over from Maduro. Rodr\u00edguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuela\u2019s high court ordered that she become interim president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is only one president in Venezuela,\u201d Rodriguez said, \u201cand his name is Nicol\u00e1s Maduro Moros.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some streets in Caracas fill up<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Venezuela\u2019s ruling party has held power since 1999, when Maduro\u2019s predecessor, Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, took office, promising to uplift poor people and later to implement a self-described socialist revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maduro took over when Ch\u00e1vez died in 2013. His 2018 reelection was widely considered a sham because the main opposition parties were banned from participating. During the 2024 election, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost<\/a> by a more than 2-to-1 margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venezuela\u2019s capital remained unusually quiet Sunday with few vehicles moving around and convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses closed. A road typically filled with runners, cyclists and other fitness enthusiasts on Sundays only had a handful of people working out the day after Maduro was deposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presidential palace was guarded by armed civilians and members of the military. At a nearby plaza, only a street sweeper and a soldier stood, and across the street, a church remained close for a second day in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caracas resident David Leal arrived to the lot where he parks vehicles for a living only to quickly realize that he would likely not see any clients for a second day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are still shaken,\u201d Leal, 77, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions of legality linger<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Whether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro,\u201d said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Leo XIV, who last month had expressed concern about growing U.S. threats of military intervention in Venezuela, raised alarms during his Sunday noon blessing and said the good of the Venezuelan people must prevail above everything else. History\u2019s first U.S. pope demanded an end to violence and for Venezuela\u2019s sovereignty to be guaranteed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In New York, the U.N. Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, planned to hold a meeting on U.S. operations in Venezuela on Monday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers from both American political parties have raised reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling. Congress has not approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on \u201cits plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":108648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,36,19,30,226],"tags":[],"coauthors":[7266],"class_list":["post-48090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon","category-smr","category-venezuela"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AB7LCHMNHJDJJK32W3YR6TPHHQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2026\/01\/04\/maduro-arrives-in-us-trump-says-operation-will-let-us-run-venezuela\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nMaduro arrives in US, Trump says operation will let US \u2018run\u2019 Venezuela - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gen. 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