President Donald Trump announced early Saturday morning that U.S. forces successfully captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a lightning quick military strike on Venezuela.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly before 4:30 a.m. Saturday. “This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.”
The operation involved the U.S. Army’s elite Delta Force, which raided the Venezuelan presidential residence and dragged Maduro and Flores from their bedroom in the middle of the night as they were sleeping, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The raid did not result in any U.S. casualties.
Plans are underway to transport Maduro to New York where he will face charges in Manhattan federal court.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Maduro and his wife have been indicted in the Southern District of New York.
“Maduro will face the full wrath of American justice on American soil,” Bondi said. The charges include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons possession conspiracy.
The charges date back to 2020, when federal prosecutors in New York accused Maduro of partnering with Colombian rebel groups to “flood the United States with cocaine.”
Prosecutors allege that Maduro and 14 current or former officials ran a vast criminal enterprise for 20 years, using state resources to fuel the international drug trade.
The Trump administration had offered a $50 million bounty for Maduro’s arrest, increased from $25 million in August 2025 after Trump designated the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization.
The successful military strikes hit multiple locations across Venezuela early Saturday, including Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex in Caracas, as well as sites in the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira.