Overview
- President Donald J. Trump announced the operation, saying more than 150 U.S. military aircraft from roughly 20 bases provided cover as Delta Force, supported by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, seized Nicolás Maduro without U.S. fatalities.
- Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were moved to the USS Iwo Jima and later transferred to U.S. custody in New York to face narcotics-related charges stemming from a 2020 federal indictment.
- U.S. officials said helicopters took fire during the extraction, one aircraft was hit, and several personnel were injured, but the force withdrew successfully.
- Officials described months of CIA intelligence-gathering inside Venezuela, the use of drones and a human source close to Maduro, and rehearsals at a full-scale replica compound in Kentucky, with weather delays pushing the final launch window.
- The operation opened with a cyberattack and strikes on Venezuelan air defenses, as Caracas reported explosions and casualties, while the White House signaled a temporary U.S. role in Venezuela and drew denunciations from legal experts and the U.N. Secretary-General over sovereignty concerns.