U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised a large-scale military operation carried out in Venezuela, describing it as highly complex and signalling plans to accelerate U.S. weapons production in its aftermath.
Speaking to the House Republican Conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Trump said the operation involved extensive air and ground coordination, including 152 aircraft.
“It was so complex, 152 airplanes,” Trump said. “Many people talk about boots on the ground. We had a lot of boots on the ground.”
Trump claimed no American troops were killed during the operation, while acknowledging casualties on the opposing side. He said power supplies across most of Venezuela were cut at the outset of the mission.
“That’s when they knew there was a problem. There was no electricity,” he said, adding that only candlelight remained in some areas.
The U.S. president stressed what he described as the superiority of American military capabilities, arguing that no other country could have carried out a similar operation.
“Nobody has our weapons. Nobody has the quality of our weapons,” Trump said.
However, he argued that U.S. defence manufacturing has failed to keep pace with operational demands, vowing to push weapons producers to speed up output.
“We’re going to start producing them much faster,” Trump said. “We’re going to be very tough on the companies. We’re not letting that happen anymore.”
Trump also commented on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, saying U.S. authorities had pursued him for years. He accused Maduro of widespread violence and human rights abuses, claims long denied by Caracas.
Washington confirmed that U.S. forces carried out Operation Absolute Resolve on Saturday, during which Maduro was detained and transferred to U.S. custody. The operation included air strikes on air defence and communications infrastructure in northern Venezuela, as well as a special operations raid in Caracas targeting Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The Trump administration has framed the operation as part of a renewed application of the Monroe Doctrine, citing efforts to combat alleged narcotics trafficking and corruption. U.S. officials have also openly linked the intervention to safeguarding American strategic and economic interests, including access to Venezuela’s oil reserves.
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