The United States seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife in an overnight military operation on Jan. 3, President Donald Trump said, as U.S. airstrikes rocked Caracas and targets across the country.
The U.S. "successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement."
Images from Venezuela showed explosions, burning vehicles and plumes of smoke rising over the capital, Caracas, and other locations, as witnesses reported the sounds of low-flying jets.
The blasts came after a United States military buildup in the Caribbean, U.S. attacks on alleged drug boats, the seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers and threats by Trump against Maduro and his government.
Venezuela's government declared a state of emergency and denounced what it called "extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current Government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and population."
