Overview
- Joint Chiefs chair Dan Caine said the mission followed extensive planning and rehearsals and integrated all service branches with intelligence partners.
- More than 150 aircraft, including F-35s, F-22s, F/A-18s, E-2s and B-1s, were coordinated across the hemisphere to open a corridor for helicopters, according to officials.
- U.S. forces dismantled Venezuelan air defenses, reached Maduro’s compound at 2:01 a.m. Caracas time, and returned fire after one helicopter was hit but remained operational, Caine said.
- Accounts diverge on timing and logistics, with officials citing the dark hours of Jan. 2 and other reports pointing to early Jan. 3 and to the detainees being taken to the USS Iwo Jima.
- Proceso reports that President Trump monitored the mission from Mar-a-Lago and said the U.S. would assume temporary control for a “safe transition” focused on restoring oil infrastructure.