Donald Trump announced that he captured Nicolás Maduro and removed him from Venezuela following a large-scale US attack on Caracas.
In a message posted on his social media account, Truth, Trump said that Maduro “was, along with his wife, captured and taken out of the country.”
“This operation was carried out in conjunction with the United States security forces,” the US president said, adding that “details will be released later.” He also said that there would be a press conference this Saturday at 11 a.m. at Mar-a-Lago.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the operation is part of Operation Southern Spear, formally launched in mid-November 2025 with the aim of combating narcoterrorism and the cartels protected by the Chavista government.
This escalation intensified during the first half of November when the United States deployed the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford to the Venezuelan coast. Then, Trump moved forward with the seizure of flagless oil tankers that the Chavista regime used to evade sanctions and send barrels to allied countries such as Iran, China, and Cuba.
In that context, among the seized vessels, Washington targeted a ship bound for China that was not on the Treasury Department’s sanctions list. This sparked outrage from the Asian giant, which declared its support for Maduro and his government, as did Russia.
Maduro, along with his wife, was captured and taken out of the country. This operation was carried out jointly with US security forces.
The latest known offensive was the CIA drone attack on a port where El Tren de Aragua, the drug cartel that the US claims is financed by Chavismo but whose existence is widely questioned, allegedly operated. This attack by the US intelligence service was the first on the ground since the beginning of this offensive.
Before Trump announced Maduro’s capture, the Venezuelan government issued an official statement condemning the “very serious military aggression” perpetrated by the United States government.
Diosdado Cabello, Maduro’s right-hand man and Venezuela’s Minister of the Interior, urged the mobilization of militias and security forces to “defend national sovereignty against the imperialist attack.”
For her part, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said in a telephone message broadcast on state television VTV that the country suffered “a brutal air attack” by the United States against Caracas and demanded “immediate proof of life of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores” from the Donald Trump administration.
“We do not know the whereabouts of Nicolás Maduro and the First Lady, Cilia Flores. We demand that the government of President Donald Trump provide immediate proof of life for President Maduro and the First Lady,” said Delcy, who described the attack as a “flagrant violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.”
