Buenos Aires, Jan 3, (dpa/GNA) – The United States has “captured” the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, as it launched surprise airstrikes on multiple targets on Venezuelan territory, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday.
The shock move by the US represents an extraordinary attempt to remove the leadership in Venezuela, after months of Washington ramping up pressure on Maduro’s authoritarian government.
“The 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,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Details would follow in a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort at 11 am (1600 GMT), Trump wrote.
According to broadcaster CBS, Maduro was captured by an elite US special forces unit called Delta Force. He was detained early on Saturday morning, CBS reported, citing US officials.
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote on X that the move marked a “new dawn” for Venezuela, and that Maduro would “face justice for his crimes.”
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez demanded that the US “immediately” provide a sign of life from the detained head of state. “We don’t know where President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores are,” Rodríguez said.
GNA