Overview
- President Donald Trump and senior officials confirmed the U.S. Army’s Delta Force led the pre‑dawn operation, with 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment helicopters inserting the team as explosions were reported over Caracas.
- Sources credit CIA assets on the ground since August and rehearsals using a replica of Maduro’s safehouse with enabling the rapid capture.
- Maduro and Cilia Flores were moved to the USS Iwo Jima and are expected to be transported to New York to face longstanding SDNY narco‑terrorism and drug‑trafficking indictments as soon as Monday.
- U.S. statements report injuries during the mission but no American fatalities and no aircraft losses.
- Trump signaled Washington will steer Venezuela’s transition, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has assumed authority in Caracas, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. forces are no longer on the ground after a brief entry for the raid.