{"id":489276,"date":"2026-01-03T11:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T11:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/489276\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T11:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T11:07:11","slug":"trump-says-venezuelas-maduro-captured-after-huge-us-military-strikes-donald-trump-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/489276\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says Venezuela\u2019s Maduro \u2018captured\u2019 after huge US military strikes | Donald Trump News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States has carried out a \u201clarge scale military strike\u201d against Venezuela<\/a> and captured its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, US President Donald Trump announced on social media.<\/p>\n

Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform early on Saturday, shortly after loud explosions were reported in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, marking a major escalation against the Latin American country.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Trump said that Maduro\u2019s wife, Cilia Flores, was also captured during the operation and both were \u201cflown out of the country\u201d. It remains unclear where Maduro and his wife were taken.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez called on the US to issue \u201cproof of life\u201d of Maduro.<\/p>\n

Speaking by telephone to Venezuelan TV Rodriguez said she did know the whereabouts of Maduro and his wife.<\/p>\n

Phil Gunson, a Crisis Group analyst based in Caracas, compared the reported capture of Maduro to the fall of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega on January 3, 1990, which was also orchestrated by the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not legal,\u201d Gunson said of Maduro\u2019s capture, while adding that it is the least of Venezuela\u2019s worries at this time.<\/p>\n

Earlier, it was reported that Maduro declared a national state of emergency in response to the attack, which the Venezuelan government described as a \u201cmilitary aggression\u201d.<\/p>\n

The government said the attacks occurred in the capital, Caracas, on Saturday as well as in the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira. Venezuela also accused Washington of staging the assault in an attempt to seize Venezuela\u2019s oil and mineral resources, pledging that such efforts \u201cwill not succeed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Explosions were heard and plumes of smoke were seen rising in Caracas early on Saturday following the attack.<\/p>\n

Video footage obtained by Al Jazeera showed balls of fire and thick smoke coming from a structure next to a body of water in Caracas early on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Quoting sources, Al Jazeera\u2019s Lucia Newman, who is reporting from Santiago in Chile, said the explosion occurred near or around Fort Tiuna, the main military base in Caracas.<\/p>\n

\u201cFort Tiuna is a key military base there. A series of explosions was reportedly heard throughout the area, followed by a blackout,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the capture of Maduro, Newman later said that the development is \u201cunprecedented, shocking, and extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Venezuela\"<\/p>\n

Sissi De Flavis, a journalist based in Caracas, told Al Jazeera that she heard what sounded like a huge truck crashing, followed by an intense shaking of the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe skies started to light up. Then there was a ball of orange fire glowing. You can still hear planes flying over right now, although there have not been any explosions since then,\u201d De Flavis told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press news agency reported at least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in the capital.<\/p>\n

An image published by AP also showed smoke rising at La Carlota airport following the series of explosions in the capital.<\/p>\n

People in various neighbourhoods were seen rushing to the streets following the explosions. Some could be seen in the distance from various areas of Caracas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes in the distance,\u201d Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, told AP, her voice trembling. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt like the air was hitting us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ResidentsResidents stand in front of their homes in the Gramoven neighbourhood in Caracas after the US launched a military attack on the Venezuelan capital and reportedly captured President Nicolas Maduro [Maxwell Briceno\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Tensions have been rising in recent weeks in Venezuela after Trump threatened to launch attacks on targets allegedly linked to drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Trump also revealed a strike on a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats last week, in the first known attack on Venezuelan territory of the US campaign.<\/p>\n

The US president has repeatedly threatened ground strikes on drug cartels in the Latin American region, including Venezuela, which he has labelled \u201cnarcoterrorists\u201d.<\/p>\n

He has claimed, without providing evidence, that Venezuela\u2019s Maduro leads a trafficking organisation that aims to destabilise the US by flooding it with drugs.<\/p>\n

In an interview on Thursday, Maduro indicated that Venezuela was open to negotiating a deal with the US to combat drug trafficking, even as he remained silent on the reported CIA-led strike on Venezuelan soil.<\/p>\n

Maduro also claimed in the interview that the US is trying to topple his government and gain access to Venezuela\u2019s vast oil reserves through Washington\u2019s months-long sanctions and military pressure campaign.<\/p>\n

Asked point-blank if he confirmed or denied a US attack on Venezuelan soil, Maduro said: \u201cThis could be something we talk about in a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maduro has said the Trump administration\u2019s approach makes it \u201cclear\u201d that the US \u201cseek to impose themselves\u201d on Venezuela through \u201cthreats, intimidation and force\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States has carried out a \u201clarge scale military strike\u201d against Venezuela and captured its leader, President…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":489277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[69,1612,50,67,32322,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-489276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-latin-america","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-venezuela","13":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115830852495735786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}