What we know about the US strikes against Venezuela

The United States has captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after a large-scale strike on the South American country, US President Donald Trump said.

Trump said Venezuela’s left-wing president and his wife were expelled from the country in a military operation in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement. They were charged with drug and weapons offenses in New York.

This comes after explosions were reported in the capital Caracas in the early hours of Saturday morning, including at military bases.

The Venezuelan government has since demanded proof that Maduro was alive. He also deployed his armed forces and declared a state of national emergency.

Maduro’s capture comes after heightened tensions between the two countries, with Washington striking boats in the Caribbean that it says are used to transport drugs.

The United States accuses the Venezuelan president of being personally involved in drug trafficking and being an illegitimate leader, while Maduro accused the United States of intimidation.

Here’s what we know so far.

Maduro was captured by the US military’s Delta Force – the main military counter-terrorism unit – according to CBS, the BBC’s US news partner.

Trump told Fox and Friends on Saturday that Maduro and his wife were taken to “a house that was more like a fortress.” The president said U.S. forces were prepared to use “massive blowtorches” to cut steel, but said Maduro “failed to penetrate that area of ​​the house.”

Trump said no U.S. forces personnel were killed and there were “few” injuries during the operation, which he said he watched live.

Maduro and his wife were on a boat en route to New York, Trump said.

Trump is scheduled to hold a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida at 11:00 a.m. EST (16:00 GMT) during which further details of the operation could be disclosed.

Republican Senator Mike Lee, who spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said “he [Rubio] plans no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in US custody, adding that the strikes were “deployed to protect and defend those carrying out the arrest warrant.”

Around 2:00 a.m. local time (06:00 GMT), loud explosions were heard in Caracas, while plumes of smoke rose above the city.

Videos of explosions and helicopter flyovers have circulated on social media, but have not yet been verified.

It is not known if there were any casualties.

The Venezuelan government also said that the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira were also affected.

BBC Verify is working on a number of videos showing explosions, fires and smoke in locations around Caracas to identify exactly which sites were targeted.

So far it has confirmed three locations:

• Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base, an airfield known as La Carlota
• Port La Guaira, the main channel from Caracas to the Caribbean Sea, located in the state of Miranda
• Higuerote Airport, also located in Miranda state, just east of Caracas

Trump used his Truth Social platform to confirm that the United States was behind the Saturday morning strikes.

“The United States of America successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who was captured and expelled from the country along with his wife,” Trump wrote.

“This operation was carried out in collaboration with American law enforcement. Details will follow.”

The American president described this operation as a “brilliant operation” to the New York Times during a 50-second phone call.

In his interview with Fox and Friends later, he described the operation in more detail.

He said U.S. forces were “prepared for a second wave” but were not required to lead one because the first was “very powerful.”

Trump said he spoke to Maduro a week ago, adding that he told him “basically, I said you have to give up, you have to surrender.”

Trump said Maduro had wanted to negotiate.

Regarding the question of who will now govern the country, Trump said that “we will be very involved in it.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, were indicted in the Southern District of New York.

They were charged with conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism and importation of cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.

“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil, in American courts,” Bondi wrote on X.

It is not known whether the couple is now on American soil.

Venezuela’s Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez, said the government did not know the whereabouts of Maduro and his wife and demanded “immediate proof of life” for both of them.

The country’s Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López, said the strikes had hit civilian areas and that the government was compiling information on the dead and injured.

He added that Venezuela would “resist” the presence of foreign troops.

The Venezuelan government issued an official statement denouncing the “extremely serious military aggression” of the United States “against the Venezuelan territory and population in civilian and military areas.”

He also accused the United States of threatening international peace and stability and described the attack as an attempt to seize Venezuela’s “strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals,” with the aim of “forcibly breaking the nation’s political independence.”

Nicolás Maduro rose to prominence under the leadership of left-wing President Hugo Chávez and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). He succeeded Chávez as president in 2013.

In 2024, Maduro was declared winner of the presidential electionalthough the results of the votes collected by the opposition suggest that its candidate, Edmundo González, won a landslide victory.

He has disagreed with Trump because of the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants in the United States and the trafficking of drugs into the United States, particularly fentanyl and cocaine.

Trump designated two Venezuelan drug gangs – Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles – as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and alleged that they were led by Maduro himself.

The US had offered a $50m (£37m) reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest.

Maduro has vehemently denied being a cartel leader and accused the United States of using its “war on drugs” as a pretext to try to remove him and get its hands on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

In recent months, American forces have also led more than two dozen strikes in international waters on boats allegedly used to smuggle drugs into the United States. More than 100 people were killed.

First lady Cilia Flores – who was also taken to the United States and indicted alongside her husband – has held several leadership positions in Venezuela, including attorney general and president of the National Assembly. She is considered a powerful political operator in her own right.

Flores, 59, is familiarly known as Maduro’s primera combatiente (first warrior) and has often been photographed alongside him at public engagements.

Like her husband, she was living under US sanctions – which were imposed during Trump’s first presidency based on allegations that she was involved in Maduro’s corrupt practices. At the time, Maduro responded by saying: “You don’t mess with Cilia. You don’t mess with family.”

Flores is a lawyer by training and she fought for the release of Hugo Chávez, who tried to take control of the Venezuelan government in 1992 and later became the country’s president. His career became forever linked to the Chávez movement.

Flores’ tenure as head of the National Assembly was not without controversy, including his decision to bar the press from the parliamentary chamber and his accusations of nepotism.

Flores’ relatives have already been targeted by the Americans on similar drug trafficking charges. In 2015, two of his nephews were arrested in Haiti and convicted and imprisoned in the United States on drug trafficking charges. They were later released in a prisoner exchange in 2022.

News of the strikes drew the strongest reaction from Venezuela’s longtime allies.

Russia accused the United States of committing “a deeply worrying and reprehensible act of armed aggression.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was “deeply shocked and strongly condemns” the use of force against a sovereign country and its president.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the strikes a “blatant violation of the country’s national sovereignty.”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the strikes an “attack on the sovereignty” of Latin America, while Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel called them a “criminal attack.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva wrote on

Chilean President Gabriel Boric expressed “his concern and condemnation” of X and called for “a peaceful solution to the serious crisis affecting the country.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s ally in Argentina, Javier Milei, wrote “Freedom advances” and “Long live freedom” on social media.

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, reiterated the bloc’s position that Maduro lacks legitimacy and there should be a peaceful transition of power, but said principles of international law must be respected.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted to “establish the facts” and first speak to Trump about “the rapidly evolving situation.”