Desperate for resources to backstop the economy, US military attacks Caracas and abducts President Maduro and his wife
Desperate for resources to backstop the economy, US military attacks Caracas and abducts President Maduro and his wife
Cowboy Trump, empowered by his Yes-men and women, goes whole hog pirate in brazen Imperial maneuver
January 3, 2026
Good morning. We’re following news out of Venezuela. Earlier today, President Trump announced that the U.S. had captured the nation’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and was flying him out of the country.
In Venezuela. Matias Delacroix/Associated Press
An operation in Venezuela
Reports of explosions in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, began early this morning. Eyewitnesses described sounds of explosions around a large military base in the city as well as near the local airport. Just after 4 a.m., President Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. had carried out “a large scale strike against Venezuela,” and that Nicolás Maduro and his wife had been captured. In a brief phone call with The Times, Trump celebrated the success of the mission. “It was a brilliant operation, actually,” he said.
The Venezuelan government declared a state of emergency in response to the attacks.
The Trump administration had been building pressure on Venezuela for months. Since late August, the Pentagon has amassed troops, aircraft and warships in the Caribbean. The U.S. military has attacked many small vesselsthat U.S. officials maintained were smuggling drugs. And the C.I.A. conducted a drone strike on a port facility in Venezuela last month, according to people briefed on the operation.
Trump said he would hold a news conference later this morning at Mar-a-Lago to discuss the operation.