Overview
- President Trump gave the final go at 10:46 p.m. ET Friday, Delta Force breached the Fuerte Tiuna compound around 2:01 a.m. local time and secured Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores within minutes.
- More than 150 U.S. aircraft launched from roughly 20 sites to suppress Venezuelan air defenses, with reported cyber and power disruptions facilitating the approach.
- U.S. officials reported no American fatalities, noting several injuries and one helicopter hit, while a senior Venezuelan official said at least 40 people were killed.
- After capture, the pair were flown to the USS Iwo Jima, transferred to Guantánamo Bay, and then to New York, where they are held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
- The Justice Department is moving forward on existing 2020 narco‑terrorism and drug‑trafficking indictments as questions intensify over civilian harm, sovereignty and presidential authority.