{"id":491427,"date":"2026-01-04T09:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T09:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/491427\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T09:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T09:08:19","slug":"venezuelan-golfer-johnattan-vegas-weighs-in-after-trump-orders-maduro-capture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/491427\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan golfer Johnattan Vegas weighs in after Trump orders Maduro capture"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump ordered a\u00a0\u201clarge-scale strike\u201d\u00a0against Venezuela to capture its leader <\/a>and transport him to the United States, where his administration plans to put him on trial.<\/p>\n

The US Army\u2019s Delta Force, an elite special operations unit, led the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, <\/a>a US official briefed on the matter told Fox News.<\/p>\n

The operation has drawn reactions from those in the political arena as well as sports figures with close ties to Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Jhonattan Vegas, a Venezuelan golfer who competes on the\u00a0PGA Tour, appeared to react to the events.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong live Venezuela, DAMN IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL\u201d (sic), Vegas wrote on X in a post translated from Spanish<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vegas, 41, is ranked No. 85 in the world. He had a historic run at the\u00a02025 PGA Championship, becoming the first Venezuelan to take the lead at one of the four major tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vegas finished 8-under par after the first 36 holes, placing him atop the leaderboard at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May.<\/p>\n

He ultimately finished the major in a tie for fifth place.<\/p>\n

Venezuelan golfer Jhonattan Vegas takes a tee shot during the first round of the 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Club on July 19, 2018. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is escorted by agents inside DEA headquarters in Manhattan on Jan. 3, 2026. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

Vegas first took an interest in golf when he was just two years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid, I would hit anything that I could find. Rocks, broomstick, everything,\u201d he told reporters after the opening round of last year\u2019s PGA Championship. \u201cI would grab anything that I could swing and I would do it. Feel like I was a good athlete as a young kid, so that\u2019s kind of how things started.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grew up near a nine-hole golf course owned by the oil companies, and we had access to a course and, plus the love of my dad for the game, put it together, and we started playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s capture:<\/p>\n

Once he reached his teens, Vegas left Venezuela and relocated to the US.<\/a><\/p>\n

He learned English and later took his golf talents to the\u00a0Texas Longhorns.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference after US forces captured Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3, 2026. NICOLE COMBEAU\/POOL\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The US Army\u2019s Delta Force, an elite special operations unit, led the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

Jhonattan Vegas stands on the 17th green during the second round of The Northern Trust at Glen Oaks Club in Westbury, New York, on Aug. 25, 2017. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Vegas further cemented his name in history when he won the Bob Hope Classic in 2011, making him the first Venezuelan to win a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.<\/p>\n

He also represented his native country twice at\u00a0the Olympics.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Trump described Maduro<\/a> as being \u201chighly guarded\u201d in a presidential palace that was \u201ca heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maduro had nearly made it to a safe room inside it, Trump told reporters, <\/a>although \u201che was unable to close it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview earlier Saturday morning on\u00a0\u201cFox & Friends Weekend,\u201d\u00a0Trump said that American forces were armed with \u201cmassive blowtorches,\u201d which they would have used to cut through steel walls had Maduro locked himself in the room.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump ordered a\u00a0\u201clarge-scale strike\u201d\u00a0against Venezuela to capture its leader and transport him to the United States,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":491428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,69,1430,405,403,5226,5225,92550,5228,5227,1456,4217,62,67,586,132,5230,68,221118,2969,32322],"class_list":{"0":"post-491427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-nicolas-maduro","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-pga-tour","19":"tag-south-america","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-capture-of-nicolas-maduro","27":"tag-usa","28":"tag-venezuela"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115836047418685710","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491427","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=491427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}