The United States conducted a military operation in Venezuela and captured President Maduro on Saturday, January 3, 2026. The U.S. had been building up its military presence in the Caribbean (SOF News) during the fall of 2025.
Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for drug smuggling. He faces criminal court proceedings tied to a 2020 indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice. The United States had a $50 million reward (state.gov) for the apprehension of Maduro. The U.S. has been attacking narco-boats carrying drugs leaving Venezuela shores and seized sanctioned oil tankers departing Venezuela with oil.
Tensions between the two nations has been building up over the past several months. Relations between Venezuela and the United States headed downhill beginning in 1998 with the election of President Hugo Chavez. He was a Venezuelan socialist that formed close ties with Russia, Iran, and Cuba. In 2013, Maduro took over after the death of Chavez.
President Trump issued a statement on (Truth Social) on the attack early on Saturday morning, January 3, 2026:
“The United States of America has 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. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.”
U.S. air strikes took place at Venezuela air bases, communications facilities, air defense sites, and on other targets. There are initial reports that say that at least five targets were struck; however, it is likely that many more were actually hit. [1] The U.S. has staged a number of Air Force, Marine, and Navy planes and drones throughout the Caribbean Sea over the past few months; many of them supported the operation.
The capture of Maduro involved U.S. special operations forces; most news sources say this was the Joint Special Operations Command’s (JSOC) Delta Force and the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Among the helicopters used were MH-47G Chinooks and MH-60M Black Hawks (Direct Action Penetrators or DAP). The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and / or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) likely had personnel involved in the arrest of Maduro.
Map: Caribbean Sea, CIA, 2007. (click here for larger image)
Maduro was captured in Caracas, Venezuela during the hours of darkness on early Saturday morning and taken by helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) (DVIDS image). Residents across the capital reported power outages, explosions, and fires. The operation appeared to be limited in scope; suppressing communications and air defense capabilities and capturing Maduro. The majority of the Venezuelan military installations are located in the north of the country.
Maduro was captured at a residence located within the Fort Tiuna military installation located in the southern suburbs of Caracas. The operation was likely preceded by months of intelligence gathering by the CIA, NGA, NSA, special operations forces, SOUTHCOM, and other agencies to develop a targeting package and ‘pattern of life’ (POL) that would reveal ‘bed down locations’ (BDL) suitable for a raid and apprehension.
More than 150 aircraft took part in the operations launching from 20 different bases and vessels. The helicopters that carried in the extraction force traveled at low altitudes. The choppers were protected by F-22 Raptors, F-35 Lightnings, F/A-18 Super Hornets, and B-1 Lancer.
Other aircraft likely supporting the operation include the E-3G Sentry (AWACS), RQ-170 Sentinel, RC-135 Rivet Joint, EA-18 Growlers, E-2 Hawkeyes, and air refueling tankers. The air component’s mission was to protect the helicopters and ground force providing a pathway to and from the target. The EC-130H likely provided wide-area electronic jamming of radar and communications and the EA-18Gs would suppress enemy air defenses. The EA-18 Growlers played a key role in the operation by jamming Venezuelan radar and communications systems, creating safe corridors for U.S. strike aircraft and special operations helicopters. The U.S. Navy carrier-based EA-18G Growler is a superb platform for gathering intelligence and enabling air superiority.
One of the primary air components missions was conducting suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD). The Russians had recently (2025) supplied some advanced air defense systems to Venezuela including the Pantsir-S1 (mobile short- medium range missile and gun system) as well as the Buk-M2E (medium-range SAM) (TWZ, Nov 4, 2025). In addition, the Russians had previously provided the S-300 long-range SAM. [2] The helicopters came under fire while arriving at the target location; one came under fire and was hit but returned to its base. The extraction force aboard helicopters were over water after conducting the operation shortly after 3:00 am Saturday.
The Navy had significantly increased its presence in the Caribbean – including an aircraft carrier strike group led by the Gerald R. Ford. In addition, the Iwo Jima is in the Caribbean as part of an Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) embarked. The Iwo Jima is a Wasp class amphibious assault ship.
Traveling with the Iwo Jima is the special operations mothership M/V Ocean Trader and other ships. The M/V Ocean Trader is a converted commercial vessel commonly referred to as a staging platform for special operations forces. The vessel is described as a floating barracks, helicopter base, and command center for SOF. Read more in “The elusive ship built to carry US special operators is in the Caribbean”, by Jeff Schogol and Patty Nieberg, Task and Purpose, September 25, 2025. See also “Photo of the Pentagon’s Shadowy Special Operations Mothership Emerges”, The War Zone, May 18, 2018.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Dan Caine, stated that all components of the U.S. military provided support for the mission. The ground support arrived at Maduro’s compound at 2:01 a.m. local Caracas time. This included operations by U.S. Cyber Command and U.S. Space Command. The capture of Maduro is called Operation Absolute Resolve. The U.S. SOF unit had rehearsed the mission using an exact replica of Maduro’s safe house. (some news reports say this was in Kentucky – [3]) Training for the mission started in months earlier while the Central Intelligence Agency had a presence on the ground tracking Maduro’s movements.
Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, also issued a statement (Twitter) saying:
“Maduro is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government. Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country. And he is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States.”
Maduro has been taken to New York to face charges. His wife is also facing charges. Apparently, the route to New York was by helicopter from Caracas to the USS Iwo Jima, which took him to Puerto Rico, MC-130 to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba), transport by 757 jet to Stewart Air National Guard Base located northwest of New York City, and finally by helicopter to the DEA building in New York and then to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. (Editor’s note: there are varying accounts of how Maduro was transported from Caracas to NYC)
Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a statement (Twitter) on Saturday morning on the capture of Maduro:
“Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States. They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez may soon become the interim president. Rodriguez issued a statement saying the capture of Maduro was a “brutal” act of aggression and has denounced the attack. According to a press conference conducted on Saturday morning by President Trump and members of his cabinet, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Rodriquez shortly after the operation.
There is a possibility Maria Cornia Machado, a leading opposition figure, may soon be back in Venezuela. She had left the country in early December, extracted by a private organization that assisted her secret departure.
There are calls by many in Venezuela for Edmundo Gonzalez, a career government official and politician, to assume the presidency. Many observers of the July 2024 election believe that he won a majority of the votes during the election; Maduro had refused to cede power stating that he won the election.
The future of Venezuela is a puzzle. Thus far, Operation Absolute Resolve was a decapitation of a head of state; not a regime change. During a January 3rd news conference a number of statements by President Trump probably raised more questions than provided answers for how the United States will interact with Venezuela in the future.
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Maps: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
This story is being updated as more details come to light through government press conferences, press releases, and news media. A press conference was held by President Trump late Saturday morning with presentations by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Watch the 53 minute long video on DVIDS.
Updates: On Sunday, January 4, 2025, Cuba announced that 32 Cubans, members of the FAR and MININT, were killed during Operation Absolute Resolve. Cuba has declared two days of National Mourning for the combatants fallen in Venezuela.
Endnotes:
[1] See map of targets hit by airstrikes produced by the Institute for the Study of War, January 3, 2025.
[2] For more on SEAD read “An autopsy of Venezuela’s $2 billion Russian S-300M missile system”, We Are The Mighty, January 3, 2026.
[3] “Inside ‘Operation Absolute Resolve,’ the U.S. Effort to Capture Maduro”, The New York Times, January 3, 2025. (subscription)
