(Editor’s note: This story and its headline have been updated to include new details from Trump’s social media post confirming the strike against Venezuela)
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the U.S. had captured Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and flown them out of the country after a “large scale strike.”
The announcement followed a string of explosions reported on early Saturday morning in Venezuela’s capital Caracas, and elsewhere. The explosions occurred around 2 a.m. local time, with at least seven blasts reported, according to AP News.
“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 said in a post on Truth Social.
Earlier, Venezuela’s government accused the U.S. of the attacks and said it “rejects, repudiates, and denounces” what it called “grave military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory.”
Venezuela’s defense minister Vladimir Padrino López also said the military is being deployed nationwide, calling it the country’s worst attack ever. Maduro’s government announced a state of emergency shortly after the U.S. strikes.
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US Intensifies Pressure On Maduro
The U.S. military has been targeting alleged drug-smuggling boats in the region in recent days. This follows Maduro’s announcement of the country’s willingness to negotiate an agreement with the U.S. to combat drug trafficking.
Maduro has earlier accused the U.S. of attempting to force a change in Venezuela’s government and gain access to its oil reserves through a long-term pressure campaign.
Since August, the U.S. has conducted operations in the Caribbean Sea, including a drone strike last week on a suspected Venezuelan drug cartel site.
U.S. authorities have also seized sanctioned oil tankers and ordered the blockade of others, further tightening pressure on the Maduro government.
The Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations has described these actions as “the greatest extortion known in our history,” particularly after the seizure of two Venezuelan oil tankers.
Previously, reports suggested that Trump had increased pressure for Maduro’s removal, prompting other countries, including Belarus and Russia, to contact Venezuela and raising the possibility that Maduro might flee the country.
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