Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine on Saturday described the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as an extensive meticulously planned operation that took months to prepare for and hours to carry out on the ground.
Speaking at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Caine described the mission as a collaboration involving all branches of the military and intelligence agencies that requires months of preparation.
That included tracking Maduro to “understand how he moved, where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore,” Caine said.
CNN previously reported that the CIA had installed a small team inside Venezeula over the summer to keep close watch on Maduro’s activities.
Late on Friday night, Caine added, more than 150 aircraft launched from 20 different bases on land and sea across the Western Hemisphere. Among them were helicopters carrying an extraction force that began their flight into Venezuela at just 100 feet above the water.
The helicopters, safeguarded by a series of strikes carried out in the area, arrived at Maduro’s compound around 1 a.m. ET. The effort to capture Maduro and his wife required multiple “self defense engagements” as the forces came under fire, Caine said, before flying out of Venezuela around 3:29 ET.
Maduro and his wife were subsequently transferred to the USS Iwo Jima, where they’re now on their way to New York to stand trial.
“Failure of one component of this well-oiled machine would have endangered the entire mission, and failure is never an option for America’s joint force,” Caine said.