President Trump announces capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in ‘large scale strike’

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been indicted in the Southern District of New York.

By
Tyler O'Neil | The Daily Signal
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Maduro
President Trump posted this photo on Truth Social, saying it depicts Nicolás Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima. (Donald Trump/Truth Social)

(The Daily Signal) — President Donald Trump celebrated the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, explaining how U.S. forces extradited the dictator and brought him to the U.S. to face narcoterrorism charges.

“All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless,” as U.S. forces “successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night,” he announced.

Trump said both Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured and would face legal charges in the Southern District of New York.

He called the operation “one of the most stunning, effective, and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.”

“It was an assault against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas,” Venezuela’s capital. He said no operation like it has been “seen since World War II.”

“Not a single American service member was killed and not a single piece of American equipment was lost,” Trump added.

The president announced that the United States would “run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.”

“We want peace, liberty, and justice for the great people of Venezuela,” he added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the people of Venezuela in mind.”

He said U.S. forces were ready to stage a second and larger attack, but that seems unnecessary at this point.

The partnership “will make the people of Venezuela rich, independent, and safe,” Trump pledged. He said the operation is part of his policy of “reasserting American power in a very powerful way.”

The president did not rule out ground forces, saying, “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground.”

He mentioned Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted and killed in Houston, Texas, in 2024. Two illegal immigrants from Venezuela face murder and kidnapping charges in the case.

“Now Maduro will never again be able to threaten an American citizen,” Trump said.

“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” the president posted on Truth Social Saturday morning.

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been indicted in the Southern District of New York.

“Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States,” she wrote. “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”

The charges against Maduro date back to 2020, when the Justice Department under Trump announced indictments of Maduro and 14 other Venezuelan officials. Maduro’s wife’s name does not appear on that list, though it is possible the Justice Department is now pursuing charges against her.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to the 2020 indictment and called Maduro “a fugitive of American justice.”

At the press conference, Rubio also said Maduro “is not the legitimate president of Venezuela,” and noted the action against Venezuela was an example of Trump’s leadership style.

“The 47th president of the United States is not a game player. When he tells you that he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it … This is a president of action,” Rubio said.

Earlier in the day, Rubio had reportedly confirmed that Maduro is in U.S. custody.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted on X that Rubio had told him that Maduro “has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight 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 from an actual or imminent attack,” Lee added.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., claimed Trump was “starting an illegal war with Venezuela that Americans didn’t ask for and has nothing to do with our security.”

“What is the actual security threat to the United States? And what happens next in Venezuela?” Murphy asked. “He cannot answer those questions—and that’s why there was no briefing to Congress to explain this action, and no briefing scheduled.”

The senator suggested Trump made the extradition to satisfy his “vanity,” to enrich “Trump’s oil industry backers,” and to distract “voters from [Jeffrey] Epstein and rising costs.”

Vice President JD Vance pushed back against claims that the extradition was “illegal.”

“Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism,” Vance posted on X. “You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.”

In July, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Cartel de los Soles a specially designated global terrorist group, mentioning that Maduro heads the organization. The State Department designated the cartel a foreign terrorist organization on Nov. 24.

Last month, the White House designated Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang, a foreign terrorist organization. The White House stated that members of Tren de Aragua “are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”

The White House designation went on to claim that Venezuelan authorities “have ceded ever-greater control over their territories to transnational criminal organizations, including TdA. The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, and which poses a substantial danger to the United States.”

The Maduro regime dates back to the 1998 election of Hugo Chavez, who led the Bolivarian Revolution and established a new constitution for the country. Chavez openly embraced socialism and began nationalizing industries.

Maduro succeeded Chavez after his death, and conditions in the country have steadily worsened. An economic crisis of hyperinflation, famine, disease, and crime has sparked a mass exodus from the country.

“Maduro should be questioned about his regime’s campaign to destabilize our streets not just with narcotics but also through political unrest,” Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow for national security at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal in a statement Saturday. “Specifically, Maduro must come clean about the nature of the regime’s relationship with Black Lives Matter and Antifa.”

Critics have accused Maduro of manipulating the results of the July 28, 2024 presidential election. Authorities disqualified María Corina Machado, a candidate for president, from running, and she supported the opposition’s alternative candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. She won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her efforts.

Machado celebrated Maduro’s ouster.

One Democrat celebrated Maduro’s ouster.

“The capture of the brutal, illegitimate ruler of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who oppressed Venezuela’s people is welcome news for my friends and neighbors who fled this violent, lawless, and disastrous rule,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., wrote on X.

She criticized Trump for failing to notify Congress, and warned that “cutting off the head of a snake is fruitless if it just regrows.”

This article was originally published by The Daily Signal. 

 

Tyler O'Neil | The Daily Signal

Tyler O'Neil is managing editor of The Daily Signal and the author of "Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center."

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