The United States military, under the veil of darkness, carried out \u201ca large-scale strike\u201d in Caracas, Venezuela and captured the country\u2019s president and his wife, according to President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
The United States military, under the veil of darkness, carried out \u201ca large-scale strike\u201d in Caracas, Venezuela and captured the country\u2019s president and his wife, according to President Donald Trump.
\u201cThe 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,\u201d Trump said on Truth Social<\/a>. \u201cThis operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow. There will be a News Conference today at 11 A.M., at Mar-a-Lago. Thank you for your attention to this matter!\u201d
T\u200b\u200bhe dramatic capture of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, marks a sharp escalation after months of rising tensions that included increased sanctions enforcement, boat strikes in the Caribbean against alleged drug smugglers, and increasingly confrontational rhetoric from the administration toward the Maduro government, which it sees as illegitimate and promoting transnational crime.
It comes amid mounting speculation about potential U.S. action following reports that the Central Intelligence Agency had conducted a drone strike<\/a> on a port facility in Venezuela in December, with officials also seizing an oil tanker in Venezuelan waters around the same time.
Jeremy R. Paul<\/a>, a professor of law and former dean of the Northeastern University School of Law, said that if Maduro was on U.S. soil, seizing him in this manner might be consistent with law. But capturing the foreign leader in his home country raises questions about the reach of U.S. criminal jurisdiction \u2014 and whether such an act would violate international law.
\u201cAllowing the seizure of a foreign leader in his own country to execute a warrant basically means that we are granting U.S. grand jurors, along with prosecutors, the power to declare war,\u201d Paul said.
Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution<\/a> gives Congress the express power to declare war.
The Department of State and the Department of Justice had previously issued a $50 million bounty<\/a> on Maduro’s head for information leading to his capture and arrest. In a tersely worded press release, officials in August cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Maduro regime after Venezuelan authorities declared Maduro the winner of the 2024 election, earning about 51% of the vote.
\u201cMaduro claimed to have won Venezuela\u2019s July 28, 2024, presidential election but failed to present any evidence that he had prevailed,\u201d U.S. officials wrote. \u201cThe United States has refused to recognize Maduro as the winner of the 2024 election and does not recognize him as the President of Venezuela.\u201d
Paul noted that there is precedent in U.S. law that even if Maduro\u2019s abduction was unlawful, U.S. courts may try him here in the U.S. The precedent, known as the \u201cKer\u2013Frisbie\u201d doctrine<\/a>, is controversial, he said, but has been in place for a long time.
Under the rule, a person can face trial in a U.S. courtroom regardless of how they arrived there. That means even if a foreign leader were forcibly taken in violation of international law, U.S. courts could still legally prosecute them once they are on U.S. soil.
\u201cThe Trump Administration will likely also assert the seizure was legal as part of the U.S. right to self-defense based on Venezuela\u2019s contribution to drugs entering the U.S.,\u201d Paul said. \u201cHow serious such an emergency is depends upon facts on the ground. But consider how many countries are sources of unlawful drugs and whether such a rationale can be reasonably confined to Venezuela.\u201d
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post<\/a> on Saturday that Maduro and his wife have been indicted in the Southern District of New York and will \u201csoon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.\u201d
Maduro has been charged with \u201cnarco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machineguns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices against the United States.\u201d
The U.S. has carried out such missions \u2014 sometimes referred to as \u201ccapture or kill\u201d missions \u2014 in the past, particularly during counterterrorism campaigns after the Sept. 11 attacks. Those missions, typically conducted by U.S. special operations forces or intelligence agencies, have been justified by U.S. officials as necessary for national security but have often drawn legal and diplomatic criticism.
Zinaida Miller<\/a>, Northeastern professor of law and international affairs, said the actions of the administration of deposing and abducting the Venezuelan president \u201care a blatant violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force without Security Council authorization.\u201d
\u201cThere is no defense: this is in fact not an armed conflict, which means that the prior strikes were also unlawful,\u201d Miller said. \u201cInternational law is quite clear that one country cannot lawfully overthrow the leader of another, nor can it try them in its domestic courts.\u201d
The Saturday morning strikes represent the most direct U.S. action against Venezuela\u2019s leadership in decades \u2014 a dramatic departure from previous efforts, dating back to the Obama administration, to isolate Caracas through diplomatic and economic pressure.
Pablo Calderon-Martinez<\/a>, associate professor in politics and international relations at Northeastern University in London, said the U.S. capture of Maduro is an \u201cextremely concerning development\u201d and unlikely to guarantee regime change in the South American country, an outcome Trump has openly discussed<\/a>.
\u201cWe have seen how this movie ends,\u201d Calderon-Martinez said, adding that the Maduro regime is \u201csufficiently institutionalized, in my opinion, to survive a leadership change.\u201d
World leaders reacted to the news Saturday morning.
Russia was quick to condemn the U.S. seizure of Maduro and his wife, calling the pretexts cited to justify the actions \u201cunfounded,\u201d according to a statement<\/a> from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
\u201cIdeologized hostility has prevailed over reasonable pragmatism and over a willingness to build relations based on trust and predictability,\u201d the statement said, adding that Moscow confirmed its solidarity with the Venezuelan people.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union\u2019s foreign policy chief and vice president of the European Commission, said that the \u201cEU has repeatedly stated that Mr. Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition.\u201d
\u201cUnder all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected. We call for restraint,\u201d Kallas said in a social media post<\/a>.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement<\/a>, stating that China \u201cfirmly opposes such hegemonic behavior by the U.S.,\u201d and that it \u201ccalls on the U.S. to abide by international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and stop violating other countries\u2019 sovereignty and security.\u201d
The strikes and capture \u201cseriously violate international law and Venezuela\u2019s sovereignty, and threaten peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region,\u201d Chinese officials said. \u201cChina firmly opposes it.\u201d
In a press conference shortly before noon, Trump said the United States \u201cwill run the country\u201d of Venezuela \u201cuntil such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.\u201d He also noted the military was prepared to conduct \u201ca second wave of strikes\u201d if necessary.
Tanner Stening is an assistant news editor at Northeastern Global News. Email him at t.stening@northeastern.edu. Follow him on X\/Twitter <\/em>@tstening90<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>
© 2026 \t\tNortheastern University \t<\/a> <\/p>\n