Inside his home on a military base, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro bolted for a safe room as U.S. troops swooped into the compound and explosions lit up the nighttime sky over Caracas.
Maduro made it as far as the door but couldn’t get it to shut.
Members of the Army’s secretive Delta Force grabbed the Venezuelan leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, whisked them out of the compound and took them to the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship waiting off the South American coast. Officials said both would travel to the United States, where they are under indictment on drug-trafficking charges. Maduro and Flores landed in New York on Saturday evening.
The attack in Venezuela’s capital during the early morning hours of Jan. 3 was a swift and stunning show of military force. Images and video showed explosions, burning vehicles, plumes of smoke rising over the capital city of Caracas, and a swarm of low-flying helicopters.
President Donald Trump, who announced the military operation, called it “one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.”
The military operation on Jan. 3 was one of the most significant incursions into a foreign country since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, raising questions about the U.S. role in the Caribbean nation of more than 28 million people.
With Maduro no longer in charge, Trump said the United States would run Venezuela until there can be “a safe, proper and judicious transition.” And he signaled Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would be in charge alongside Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.
Maduro, 63, a former bus driver and union leader, has ruled the county for more than a decade. The hand-picked successor of the country’s former leader, he was narrowly elected president following Hugo Chávez’s death in 2013. Maduro was sworn in for a third term last January following an election that was widely condemned by international observers, the Biden administration and the opposition as fraudulent.
Maduro’s reign has severely strained relations with several U.S. presidents, who have accused him of allowing the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. Trump has had his sights set on toppling Maduro since his first term in the White House. He has described Maduro as running Venezuela like a “narco-terrorist” drug cartel that is directly responsible for American deaths.
A federal grand jury in New York that indicted Maduro on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and two illegal weapons counts said he “sits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.”
The U.S. attack and capture of Maduro had been in the works for months.
“This mission was meticulously planned, drawing lessons from decades of missions over the last many years,” Gen. Dan Caine, an Air Force general who serves as Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a news conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Intelligence teams monitored Maduro to understand how he moved, where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore – and even what kind of pets he had, Caine said.
Meanwhile, starting in early September, U.S. troops mounted a series of attacks on drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific. The campaign escalated to include the seizure of oil tankers coming and going from Venezuelan ports in late December.
By December, U.S. forces were ready for the attack but waited until the right day to minimize the potential for civilian harm and to maximize the element of surprise, Caine said. Through Christmas and New Years, troops waited for Trump to issue the order.
Trump gave that order on Jan. 2 at 10:46 p.m. Eastern time, Caine said.
Within hours, aircraft began launching from 20 different bases on land and sea. More than 150 aircraft, bombers, fighters and intelligence, reconnaissance and law-enforcement teams were involved. Helicopters began their flight into Venezuela at 100 feet above the water. As they approached Caracas, Caine said, troops began to disable Venezuela’s air defense systems to make sure the helicopters could safely reach their target.
Helicopters came under fire as they approached the target. One was hit but was still able to fly.
The troops arrived at Maduro’s compound at 1:01 a.m. Eastern time. Maduro and his wife, both inside, gave up and were taken into custody by the U.S. Department of Justice, with assistance from the military.
No U.S. forces were killed, and no American aircraft were lost during the strike, Trump said.
Trump later posted a photo on social media showing Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima, dressed in a gray sweatsuit and holding a water bottle. On his head were what appeared to be noise-suppressing earmuffs. A dark blindfold covered his eyes.
In Washington, reaction to the military operation divided predictably along party lines, with Republicans supporting it and Democrats accusing the Trump administration of conducting an illegal war.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, said in a post on X that Maduro “wasn’t just an illegitimate dictator; he also ran a vast drug-trafficking operation. That’s why he was indicted in U.S. court nearly six years ago for drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, described the military action as “a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives.”
“Nicolas Maduro is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans after years of trafficking illegal drugs and violent cartel members into our country – crimes for which he’s been properly indicted in U.S. courts and an arrest warrant duly issued – and today he learned what accountability looks like,” Johnson said in a statement.
But Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, an Iraq war veteran, called the strike the “second unjustified war in my lifetime” in a social media post.
“This war is illegal,” Gallego said. “It’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, who has pushed for consultation between the White House and Congress before military action, raised concerns about the administration’s actions.
“Where will this go next?” Kaine asked. “Will the president deploy our troops to protect Iranian protesters? To enforce the fragile ceasefire in Gaza? To battle terrorists in Nigeria? To seize Greenland or the Panama Canal? To suppress Americans peacefully assembling to protest his policies? Trump has threatened to do all this and more and sees no need to seek legal authorization from people’s elected legislature before putting servicemembers at risk.”
The Trump administration has insisted it does not need congressional authorization for its military operations in and around Venezuela.
Other countries were also critical of the operation.
Russia’s foreign ministry said the strikes were “deeply concerning and condemnable.”
“The pretexts used to justify such actions are unfounded,” the ministry said in a statement. “Ideological animosity has prevailed over business pragmatism and the willingness to build relationships based on trust and predictability.”
In one of many condemnations from Latin leaders, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva said the “bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line.”
For many, Maduro’s capture evoked memories of a similar raid against Panamanian General Manuel Noriega that took place on the same date more than three decades earlier.
On Jan. 3, 1990, U.S. forces captured Noriega and took him to the United States, where he was convicted of drug-trafficking, racketeering and money-laundering charges and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Back in Venezuela, the streets of Caracas were mostly silent hours after the attack. Security forces patrolled the city, and later in the day, supporters of Maduro’s government gathered to protest his capture.
Most residents, however, stayed inside their homes as the country – and the world – wondered what came next.
Contributing: Francesca Chambers, Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Jeanine Santucci and Davis Winkie.
Michael Collins writes about the intersection of politics and culture. A veteran reporter, he has covered the White House and Congress. Follow him on X: @mcollinsNEWS