The fire at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, is seen from afar after a series of explosions in Caracas on January 3, 2026.
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President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured by the United States and charged with drug trafficking after the United States launched a large-scale attack in Venezuela.
The US military operation was carried out in coordination with US law enforcement authorities, the US president said. Donald Trump said in a early morning post on Social Truth.
“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. This operation was carried out in conjunction with American law enforcement,” Trump said.
No further details were provided.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement post on that Maduro and his wife were indicted in the Southern District of New York.
The Maduros were charged with conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of weapons and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States, according to Bondi’s post.
“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil, in American courts,” she wrote.
CBS News reported that the US military’s elite Delta Force unit was involved in Maduro’s capture.
The Pentagon declined to answer questions from CNBC and referred questions to the White House. The White House, which reposted Trump’s Truth Social statement on its X account, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who had asked earlier whether the US attack was constitutional, said in a Message Saturday, this Secretary of State Marco Rubio told him that the U.S. operation “was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant.”
“This action likely falls within the President’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel against actual or threatened attack,” Lee added.
Rubio, meanwhile, responded to the social media operation by reposting a statement he made in July 2025, declaring: “Maduro is NOT the president of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.” Maduro is the leader of the Los Soles Cartel, a narcoterrorist organization that has taken over a country. And he’s charged with bringing drugs into the United States.
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in a message on that Maduro “would finally be judged for his crimes”.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Venezuelan government.
Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s vice president, demanded that the United States provide proof that Maduro and his wife are alive, in an interview with state broadcaster Venezolana de Televisión.
Maduro’s official Facebook page posted a video stating that attacks took place in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, according to a Google translation of the statement in Spanish.
The statement in the video added that the United States would fail in its goal of owning Venezuela’s oil and minerals, and that Maduro had declared a state of national emergency and mobilized defense forces.
The official spokesperson for Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, who leads Venezuela’s opposition, said in a statement post on that she had no comment on the operation.
Trump said The New York Times that the operation was the result of “a lot of good planning”.
“It was actually a brilliant operation,” Trump told the Times.
Explosions were reported in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, around 2 a.m. local time (0600 GMT), according to images circulating on social media that could not be independently verified.
Oil production and refining at Venezuelan state energy company PDVSA has been running normally and its main facilities have suffered no damage, according to an initial assessment, two sources with knowledge of the company’s operations told Reuters.
The port of La Guaira near Caracas, one of the country’s largest but not used for oil operations, was reported to have suffered serious damage, Reuters reported.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to take action against Maduro. On December 23, 2025, he said it would be “smart” for Maduro to leave power.
Trump announced last month a blockade of sanctioned tankers entering and leaving Venezuelan waters, claiming that the country was “completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America.”
The strategy to pressure Maduro comes as the United States and the Venezuelan opposition say Maduro rigged elections last year to stay in power. Trump also accused Maduro of running a “narco-state.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a post on that Caracas was under attack and requested an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States and the United Nations.
Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chavez in 2013, said Washington was seeking control of its oil reserves, the largest in the world.
— CNBC’s Terri Cullen contributed to this report.
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