{"id":198050,"date":"2026-01-25T03:02:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T03:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-has-captured-venezuelas-president-maduro-and-wife-says-trump-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T03:02:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T03:02:48","slug":"us-has-captured-venezuelas-president-maduro-and-wife-says-trump-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-has-captured-venezuelas-president-maduro-and-wife-says-trump-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"US has captured Venezuela\u2019s President Maduro and wife, says Trump – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

US president lauds \u2018brilliant operation\u2019 on social media as attorney general says couple will face criminal charges
What we know so far about the attack<\/a>
Watch: Aircraft fly low over Caracas as explosions hit city<\/a>
Donald Trump has said <\/strong>the US \u201ccaptured\u201d Venezuela\u2019s president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flew them out of the South American country during a pre-dawn assault on Caracas and the surrounding region.
\u201cIt was a brilliant operation, actually,\u201d the US president told the New York Times after witnesses in Venezuela<\/a> reported a series of explosions. \u201cA lot of good planning and [a] lot of great, great troops and great people.\u201d
The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said the couple would face criminal charges and trial in the US based on a 2020 New York indictment. In a social media post, she said they would \u201csoon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts\u201d.
It was not immediately clear what the legal and constitutional authority was for the military operation and the capture and trial of a sovereign head of state. Nor was it clear whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand; it is supposed to be notified by the presidency before any declaration of war.
Writing on social media, Trump confirmed US troops had launched \u201ca large-scale strike against Venezuela\u201d and said more details would be announced at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. CBS News reported US officials as saying that Maduro had been captured by members of the elite army unit Delta Force, which was responsible for the 2019 killing of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi<\/a>.
The bombardment of Venezuela by the US and its kidnapping of a foreign head of state shocked the international community, which reacted with alarm. Neighbouring Colombia condemned the attack, called for an immediate emergency session of the UN security council, and said it was preparing to receive a \u201cmassive influx of refugees\u201d<\/a>.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Saul, said Trump should be investigated for the operation.
\u201cI condemn the US\u2019s illegal aggression against Venezuela and the illegal abduction of its leader and his wife. Every Venezuelan life lost is a violation of the right to life,\u201d Saul said.
Speaking on \u200bVenezuela\u2019s state-run television channel, the vice-president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, \u200bappeared to confirm \u200bthe capture of Maduro and Flores\u200b, admitting that she did not know where they were. Rodr\u00edguez\u200b, who is one of Maduro\u2019s closest allies, demand\u200bed immediate \u201cproof of life\u201d \u200bfor the couple and accused the US of \u201cmurdering humble and innocent Venezuelan men and women\u201d.
\u201cAt this moment Venezuela is calm, absorbing the significance of a military aggression of this nature,\u201d she added in the brief telephone interview.
It remains unclear who is in charge of Venezuela in the president\u2019s absence. The interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, appeared in a video on state TV flanked by police officers assuring citizens the situation was stable.
\u201cThe military forces, the police forces \u2026 and the people are prepared for any situation, and prepared for any attempt to go further than the cowardly attacks that were carried out against the military forces and our people,\u201d Cabello said, wearing a bulletproof vest and tactical helmet.
Earlier, Venezuela\u2019s government accused the US of launching a series of attacks against civilian and military targets in the country after explosions rocked its capital before dawn on Saturday.
In a statement, Venezuela\u2019s government urged citizens to rise up against the assault and said Washington risked plunging Latin America into chaos with \u201can extremely serious\u201d act of \u201cmilitary aggression\u201d.
\u201cThe entire country must mobilise to defeat this imperialist aggression,\u201d it added.
Crowds of Maduro supporters gathered in downtown Caracas, some carrying pictures of the captured president, others embracing tearfully.
In a defiant online video<\/a>, V\u200benezuela\u2019s defense minister, Gen Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez\u200b, accused the US of launching a \u201cdeplorable\u201d and \u201ccriminal\u201d regime change operation and said the \u201cbarbaric\u201d invading forces had \u201cdesecrated our sacred land\u201d.
\u200b\u201cThis invasion represents the greatest outrage the country has ever suffere\u200bd,\u201d Padrino L\u00f3pez declared, adding that Venezuelan authorities were still trying to calculate how many civilians had been killed or injured during helicopter attacks on urban areas.
He called on citizens and soldiers to unite in resistance. \u201cThey have attacked us but they will not vanquish us \u2026 we will form an indestructible wall of resistance. Our vocation is peace, but our heritage is the fight for freedo\u200bm,\u201d he said.
In its statement, Venezuela\u2019s government confirmed three other states had come under attack: Miranda, La Guaira and Aragua.
\u201cThe only objective of this attack is to seize control of Venezuela\u2019s strategic resources, in particular its oil and minerals,\u201d it said, calling on the international community to denounce what it called a flagrant violation of international law that put millions of lives at risk.
At least seven explosions were heard at about 2am and people in various neighbourhoods rushed to the street, the Associated Press reported. \u201cThe whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes in the distance,\u201d said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker.
Witnesses reported seeing smoke pouring from two key military installations in Caracas: La Carlota military airfield in the heart of the city and the Fuerte Tiuna military base where Maduro has long been thought to live. Another important airport to the east of Caracas, Higuerote, also appeared to come under attack.
The US has run a five-month pressure campaign against Maduro<\/a>, which many analysts believe has been aimed at toppling thepresident. Since August, Trump has ordered a massive military buildup off Venezuela\u2019s northern coast and conducted a series of deadly airstrikes on supposed \u201cnarco boats\u201d.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch land operations in Venezuela, amid other efforts to pressure Maduro to leave office, including expanded sanctions, an increased US military presence in the region and more than two dozen strikes on vessels allegedly involved in trafficking drugs<\/a> in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
Legal experts have said that some of the US strikes on suspected drug trafficking vessels could amount to war crimes. At least 110 people have been killed by the strikes so far.
The US has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump ordered a blockade of others in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the country\u2019s economy.
Colombia\u2019s president, Gustavo Petro, published what he claimed was a partial list<\/a> of the bombed installations in Venezuela, including the 19th-century national assembly building in Caracas; La Carlota, the most important airbase within the capital; and an air force base in the city of Barquisimeto.
Other reputedly targeted sites included the Cuartel de la Monta\u00f1a barracks in Caracas, a military base that is home to the mausoleum of Maduro\u2019s mentor, Hugo Ch\u00e1vez. The mausoleum is one of the most sacred locations for their political movement, Chavismo, which has governed Venezuela<\/a> in an increasingly authoritarian fashion since Ch\u00e1vez first came to power in 1999. Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s remains were taken to the barracks and put on public display after he died of cancer in 2013.
The president of Cuba, Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel, denounced the US\u2019s \u201ccriminal attack\u201d and said the region was being \u201cbrutally assaulted\u201d. \u201c[This is] state terrorism against the gallant people of Venezuela and against Our America,\u201d wrote D\u00edaz-Canel who is Maduro\u2019s main regional ally.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US president lauds \u2018brilliant operation\u2019 on social media as attorney general says couple will face criminal chargesWhat we know so far about the attackWatch: Aircraft fly low over Caracas as explosions hit cityDonald Trump has said the US \u201ccaptured\u201d Venezuela\u2019s president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flew them out of the South […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-198050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}