In a seemingly unprecedented move, President Trump ordered the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
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According to CBS News, in the early hours of Saturday, the U.S. military conducted an operation in Caracas that led to the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The operation was carried out weeks after several dozen U.S. fighter jets were stationed on U.S. territory, Puerto Rico. Among the aircraft were CV-22 Ospreys and C-17 cargo planes.
Just before the operation, the Trump administration accused Maduro and Venezuelan groups of narco-terrorism. Maduro, as well as several of his top lieutenants, were charged in the U.S. federal court with narco-terrorism in 2020.
“Maduro very deliberately deployed cocaine as a weapon” to harm the U.S. prosecutors alleged at the time.
The now former Venezuelan leader has denied the allegations.
Along with alleged narco-terrorism, Maduro has refused to step down as Venezuela’s president despite his disputed 2024 election loss. Since then, the U.S. has recognized the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, as the election winner and imposed sanctions against election officials for allegedly rigging the voting process.
Following their captures, Maduro and Flores were transported to New York. President Trump shared a photo of Maduro being handcuffed and secured on the U.S.S. Iwo Jima.
Maduro and Flores have since arrived and have been placed in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Maduro now faces federal charges related to drug trafficking and working with gangs designated as terrorist organizations.
President Trump Claims the U.S. Would “Run” Venezuela Temporarily Following the Capture of Nicolás Maduro
Meanwhile, President Trump announced that the U.S. will have temporary control of Venezuela until there is a “safe, proper, and judicious transition” in power.
“We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind,” Trump stated. “We’ve had decades of that. We’re not going to let that happen. We’re there now.”
He then noted, “And what people don’t understand, but they understand as I say this, we’re there now, but we’re going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place.”
Trump also said that the U.S. cannot just leave after the situation due to Venezuela’s oil infrastructure needing to be rebuilt.
“If we just left, it [Venezuela] has zero chance of ever coming back,” he explained. “We’ll run it properly. We’ll run it professionally.”
He further added, “We’ll have the greatest oil companies in the world going in and invest billions and billions of dollars and take out money, use that money in Venezuela, and the biggest beneficiary is going to be the people of Venezuela.”
However, President Trump did not provide any details about how the U.S. is overseeing Venezuela. He did state that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are part of the plans.
Speaking to CBS Evening News, Hegseth said the team would work out a way to help the Venezuelans.
“It means we set the terms. President Trump sets the terms. And ultimately, he’ll decide what the iterations are of that,” he said. “But, it means the drugs stop flowing, it means the oil that was taken from us is returned, ultimately, and that criminals are not sent to the United States.”