FOX NEWS reporting
The U.S. military carried out a “large-scale strike” in Venezuela early Saturday morning and took Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife into custody, President Donald Trump confirmed.
The president wrote on Truth Social that the operation was successful and Maduro and his wife were “captured and flown out of the country.” Trump said the operation was conducted with U.S. law enforcement and added that a news conference will take place at Mar-a-Lago at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
At least seven explosions could be heard in Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas early Saturday morning, according to The Associated Press, and low-flying aircraft were seen flying over Caracas at about 2 a.m. local time.
The helicopters seen flying over Caracas were part of the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the “Night Stalkers.”
Fire at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, after a series of explosions in Caracas on Jan. 3, 2026. (Luis Jaimes/AFP via Getty Images)
The Venezuelan government said in a statement that “the civilian and military localities of the city of Caracas, capital of the Republic, and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira” were impacted by the attack.
The statement also accused the U.S. of committing a “very serious military aggression” against Venezuela and carrying out “imperialist aggression.”
“The objective of this attack is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, attempting to break the Nation’s political independence by force,” the Government of Venezuela said in a statement. “They will not succeed. After more than two hundred years of independence, the people and their legitimate Government remain steadfast in defense of sovereignty and the inalienable right to decide their own destiny.”
The statement also said the “attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a ‘regime change,’ in alliance with the fascist oligarchy, will fail just like all previous attempts.”
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau reacted to Trump’s announcement, describing it as a “new dawn for Venezuela.”
“The tyrant is gone,” Landau posted on X. “He will now — finally —face justice for his crimes.”
