Overview
- Attorney General Pam Bondi said Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores are in U.S. custody and being taken to New York for arraignment on narcotics-related charges stemming from a 2020 indictment.
- Trump described a U.S. special-operations mission in Caracas—reported as Delta Force’s “Absolute Resolve”—that used airstrikes to extract the couple, with no U.S. fatalities and only minor helicopter damage reported.
- Mexico condemned the operation as a violation of the U.N. Charter and urged United Nations involvement, warning the strike threatens regional stability and asserting Latin America as a zone of peace.
- In a Fox & Friends interview, Trump said Mexican cartels are “running Mexico,” claimed he offered President Claudia Sheinbaum U.S. help to “take out the cartels,” and warned that “something’s gonna have to be done with Mexico.”
- Trump signaled the U.S. could maintain a role in Venezuela and indicated willingness to consider further regional actions, prompting intensified international criticism and sovereignty questions.