US launches military strikes on Venezuela, captures President Maduro

President Trump said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the Country” early Saturday morning, confirming a “large scale strike” by the U.S. that drew quick condemnation and concern from across the globe.

The U.S. Army’s Delta Force, an elite special forces unit, carried out the operation to capture Maduro, officials said

A Republican senator said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had indicated that Maduro would face criminal charges in the U.S., where he was indicted years ago, and that Rubio “anticipates no further action in Venezuela.”

The Trump administration has long accused Maduro of drug trafficking and working with gangs designated as terrorist organizations, which Maduro denies.

The strikes follow months of U.S. military buildup in the region, with the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and numerous other warships positioned in the Caribbean.

In recent weeks the U.S. has seized two oil tankers off Venezuela, launched deadly strikes on more than 30 boats the administration says were carrying drugs, and struck what President Trump called “the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post on Saturday that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American Courts.”

Maduro has been indicted in a U.S. Federal Court on at least four charges, including narco-terrorism offenses and possessing weapons “against the United States,” Bondi said. 

It was not immediately clear whether the nation’s top lawyer was referring only to charges contained in an indictment filed against the Venezuelan leader in 2020, or if there would be new or different charges filed in an indictment Saturday. 

Bondi said the Maduros were charged in the Southern District of New York, which is the same jurisdiction that handed down the 2020 indictment against the Venezuelan President. His wife, Cilia Flores, was not previously charged.

Bondi, in her post, added her thanks on behalf of the Department of Justice to President Trump, “for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American People, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers.”

A spokesperson for Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado comment on the U.S. military operation that led to the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro.

Machado, who has been in hiding since the 2024 Presidential elections, was last seen in public last month when she traveled to Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Machado told a news conference in mid-December that she was “absolutely” supportive of President Trump’s strategy in the country and would welcome “more and more pressure so that Maduro understands that he has to go.”

“We, the Venezuelan people, are very grateful to him and to his administration, because I believe he is a champion of freedom in this hemisphere,” Machado said.

Top European Union diplomat Kaja Kallas said Saturday that she had spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the EU’s ambassador in Caracas. 

She said the EU was “closely monitoring the situation” and noted that it had “repeatedly stated that Maduro lacks legitimacy.”  

“Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected,” Kallas wrote on social media. “We call for restraint. The safety of EU citizens in the country is our top priority.”

Russia and Iran were among the many nations to react quickly to the U.S. military strikes on Venezuela and President Trump announcing the capture of the Latin American nation’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Iran condemned the attack, calling it a “flagrant violation of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of” Venezuela.

Russia’s foreign ministry accused the U.S. of “an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. This is deeply concerning and condemnable” in a statement, according to the Reuters news agency.

“The pretexts used to justify such actions are unfounded,” the statement said, adding a call for the prevention of “further escalation,” dialogue, and backing other calls for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Maduro’s capture comes exactly 35 years after U.S. arrested Panama’s Noriega

President Trump announced the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro early Saturday morning 35 years to the day after U.S. forces arrested another indicted Latin American leader, the late Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.

A onetime U.S. ally and CIA informant, Noriega led Panama for much of the 1980s, but he fell out of favor with Washington toward the end of his reign due to allegations of drug trafficking. 

Former President George H.W. Bush ordered the U.S. military to invade Panama in late 1989, leading Noriega to hide out in the Vatican embassy before surrendering to U.S. authorities on Jan. 3, 1990. He was convicted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges and spent 20 years in an American prison before being sent to France to serve a money laundering sentence, and then to Panama where he was imprisoned on murder and other charges. 

Noriega died in Panama in 2017.