The United States launched an overnight military operation in Venezuela and captured its long-serving President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said, pledging to place the country under temporary American control and signalling that U.S. forces could be deployed if necessary.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump told a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “We can’t take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the interests of Venezuelans in mind.”
The operation followed hours of explosions, aircraft activity and power outages across Caracas, according to Reuters witnesses. Electricity was knocked out in parts of the capital as U.S. forces captured Maduro in or near one of his safe houses, U.S. officials said. Despite the dramatic assault, Washington does not control Venezuelan territory, and Maduro’s government apparatus appeared to remain intact.
Venezuela’s government said strikes also hit the neighbouring states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, and declared a national emergency while ordering the mobilisation of defence forces. Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned what he described as foreign military aggression and urged Venezuelans to defend national sovereignty.
Rodríguez demands Maduro release
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, widely seen as Maduro’s apparent successor, appeared on state television on Saturday afternoon flanked by senior officials, denouncing what she described as a kidnapping.
“We demand the immediate release of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores,” Rodríguez said, calling Maduro “the only president of Venezuela.”
Maduro is expected to make an initial appearance in Manhattan federal court on Monday, according to a U.S. Justice Department official.
Rodríguez spoke shortly after Trump said his administration had been in contact with her and that she appeared cooperative. “She really doesn’t have a choice,” Trump said, standing alongside senior officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Trump declined to offer specifics on how Washington would administer Venezuela, repeatedly indicating that officials standing behind him would oversee the process. He also said he was open to deploying U.S. troops.
“We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” he said.
The language echoed rhetoric used ahead of past U.S. interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which ended in prolonged occupations and eventual withdrawals. Trump insisted that all military actions under his leadership had been “only victories,” though none previously involved the removal of a foreign head of state.
Trump has long criticised such interventions. During a 2016 debate he called the Iraq invasion “a big fat mistake,” and in 2021 said he was “especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars.”
The United Nations Security Council is due to meet on Monday to discuss the U.S. action.
Oil revenues and political backlash
Trump said any U.S. presence in Venezuela “won’t cost us a penny,” arguing that Washington would be reimbursed through revenues from the country’s vast oil reserves.
The claim recalled the 2003 Iraq war, when U.S. officials suggested oil revenues would cover the costs of the invasion. Academic estimates later put the total U.S. cost of the Iraq conflict at $2 trillion or more.
Trump ruled out working with opposition leader María Corina Machado, long viewed as Maduro’s most credible challenger.
Trump said the United States had not been in contact with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. “She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” he said.
The remarks angered Machado supporters. Machado has backed U.S. efforts to counter alleged drug trafficking and dedicated her Nobel Prize to Trump and the Venezuelan people.
“She is the most respected politician in the country,” Pedro Burelli, a former board member of state oil company PDVSA, wrote on X. “Venezuela is broke and needy, but it is not about to surrender to absurd whims.”
Reuters has previously reported that members of Machado’s team had been in contact with Trump administration officials and helped build the case for a tougher stance against the Venezuelan government, despite concerns about political fallout among Venezuelan migrants in the United States.
International reaction
Global reaction to the U.S. strikes and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro exposed sharp divisions among Washington’s allies and rivals.
French President Emmanuel Macron said any transition in Venezuela must be peaceful, democratic and respect the will of the Venezuelan people, expressing hope that opposition figure Edmundo González Urrutia could lead a swift transition. Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the legal assessment of the U.S. action was complex and warned against political instability, stressing that international law must apply.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez rejected both the Maduro government and what he described as an intervention that violates international law, warning it could push the region toward greater uncertainty. Mexico and Brazil issued strong condemnations, with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva saying the bombing of Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president crossed an “unacceptable line” and set a dangerous precedent.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, through a spokesperson, said the developments were deeply concerning and warned they risk undermining the international legal order, urging all parties to respect the UN Charter.
China’s foreign ministry said it was “deeply shocked” by the use of force against a sovereign country, while Russia described the operation as an act of armed aggression and called for restraint and dialogue. Iran also condemned the strikes and urged the Security Council to intervene.
By contrast, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s “bold and historic leadership,” while Argentina’s President Javier Milei hailed what he called the collapse of a dictatorship and said the developments were “excellent news for the free world.” Several Latin American governments, including Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, called for an orderly, democratic transition and warned against further escalation.
Potential power vacuum
Maduro’s removal after more than 12 years in power could open a power vacuum in Venezuela, which borders Colombia, Brazil and Guyana and faces longstanding security challenges.
U.S. officials have accused the country of hosting drug traffickers, armed criminal networks and groups such as Colombia’s ELN rebels. Any destabilisation in the nation of 28 million people could ripple across the region.
The operation marks the most direct U.S. military intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama, when U.S. forces captured Manuel Noriega, another leader wanted on U.S. drug-trafficking charges.
Washington accuses Maduro of running a “narco-state” and rigging the 2024 election, allegations he denies. Maduro has repeatedly said U.S. pressure is aimed at seizing Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world.
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