President Donald Trump introduced early Saturday morning that the US carried out a “large scale strike against Venezuela” and that President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse have been captured and faraway from the nation.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Venezuela requested an pressing assembly of the United Nations Security Council in response to the assault, Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto stated.
“No cowardly attack will prevail against the strength of this people, who will emerge victorious,” he stated on Telegram, sharing the letter despatched to the UN.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez stated in an audio name with state-run VTV that the federal government doesn’t know the whereabouts of Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, demanding “immediate proof of life” from the Trump administration.
A NCS crew witnessed a number of explosions and heard the sounds of plane early Saturday in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, and reported that some areas of town had been with out electrical energy.
Several areas of town had been with out energy and NCS journalists there may hear the sound of plane after the explosions.
In an announcement earlier than Trump’s announcement, Venezuela’s authorities condemned what it stated was a “very serious grave military aggression,” and accused the US of finishing up an assault on Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López insisted the nation would resist the presence of overseas troops in the nation.
“This invasion represents the greatest outrage the country has suffered,” he stated.
He additionally referred to as for a “massive deployment” of army forces in the nation, data from the protection ministry confirmed.
In a quick telephone interview with The New York Times Saturday morning, Trump hailed what he referred to as a “brilliant operation.”
“A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people,” Trump informed the Times. “It was a brilliant operation, actually.”
According to the Times, Trump declined to reply questions on whether or not he had sought congressional authorization for the strike, saying he would deal with the problem at a information convention on Saturday at Mar-a-Lago, which is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET.
Calm in Caracas after the strikes
NCS’s Mary Mena stated from Caracas that the capital was calm hours after the strikes.
“We listened to many airplanes and helicopters passing by, but right now the city remains quiet, for the past two hours,” she stated. “We haven’t heard people for example coming to the streets, and the state channel keeps repeating this message from the ministry of defense saying they want people to remain calm and they will deploy military forces across the country.”
The first blast witnessed by the NCS crew was recorded at roughly 1:50 a.m. native time (12:50 a.m. ET).
“One was so strong, my window was shaking after it,” NCSE correspondent Osmary Hernandez stated.
Several areas of town had been with out energy, and NCS journalists in the capital heard the sound of plane after the explosions.
One video obtained and verified by NCS confirmed two plumes of smoke rising into the evening sky amid metropolis lights. An orange glow may very well be seen on the base of one of many plumes. Then a flash in one other location was briefly seen, adopted by a boring booming sound.
Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying plane had been heard in Caracas, Venezuela on Saturday. – Matias Delacroix/AP
In latest weeks, Trump had repeatedly warned that the US was making ready to take new motion towards alleged drug trafficking networks in Venezuela and that strikes on land will begin “soon.”
Trump’s stress marketing campaign on Maduro has included strikes destroying greater than 30 boats in the Caribbean Sea and jap Pacific Ocean in what the US has described as a counter-narcotics marketing campaign. Trump final month ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela.
The CIA carried out a drone strike in December on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, NCS reported final month, citing sources, marking the primary identified US assault on a goal inside that nation.
$50 million bounty
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee stated Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed him that Maduro was arrested to face trial in the US.
“He informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee posted on X early Saturday.
The Trump administration has for years stated that Maduro was a felony and has appeared to prosecute him via the US authorized system.
In 2020, throughout Trump’s first time period, Maduro was charged in the Southern District of New York for “narco-terrorism,” conspiracy to import cocaine, and associated costs.
The Trump administration supplied a $15 million bounty for Maduro’s arrest. That bounty was elevated to $25 million in the waning days of the Biden administration, in early January 2025, and was elevated once more, to $50 million, in August 2025 after Trump took workplace for a second time period and designated Cartel de los Soles as a overseas terrorist group. The administration has claimed that Maduro is the leader of that group, which it describes as a felony group.
This is a creating story and will likely be up to date.
Jennifer Hansler, Alejandra Jaramillo, Isaac Yee, Michael Rios, and Laura Sharman contributed to this report
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