The storm breaks
The United States has captured Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro
After months of military build up, an overnight bombing campaign and helicopter raid has deposed Venezuela’s strongman
ON JANUARY 3RD, hours after explosions were heard in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, Donald Trump made a bombshell announcement.
The United States had captured Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s dictator, and flown him and his wife out of the country.
A military operation that began in the middle of the night and concluded by sunrise had resulted in an extraordinary act of regime change.
For five months the United States had patiently assembled an armada in the Caribbean, the largest naval force gathered in the region since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
Mr Trump has accused Mr Maduro of leading a drug cartel, and accused Venezuela of stealing American oil and territory.
On January 1st Mr Maduro once again offered concessions to Mr Trump, proposing talks on drug trafficking.
It was to no avail.
Videos published on social media showed signs of attacks against military bases and ports.
Multiple explosions were seen in and around the capital, including at the Tiuna military base, which serves as the headquarters for Venezuela’s defence ministry and a residential complex for military leaders; La Guaira, a major port north of the capital; and La Carlota airfield, where smoke was seen rising from runways and hangars.
Higuerote, a port and airport in Miranda state 90km east of Caracas, was also attacked, with secondary explosions from ordnance lighting up the night sky.
So too was El Volcán, a communications site bristling with large antennae on a mountain south-east of the capital.
American tankers took off from Puerto Rico to refuel warplanes.
But at least some of those strikes, which were completed in less than half an hour and left many important military sites untouched, may have been cover for a daring raid to snatch Mr Maduro.
Videos showed large numbers of American special-operations helicopters firing guns and missiles at ground targets at close range, suggesting that America had already weakened or destroyed the country’s air-defence network.
Such helicopters, which belong to a specialised unit known as the Night Stalkers, would often be used only for attacking high-value targets.
What is unclear is whether someone in Mr Maduro’s inside circle sold him out to America.
In a statement published on state television, Venezuela’s government condemned the “grave military aggression” and ordered the population to resort to “armed struggle”.
But it made no mention of the president’s fate.
For months Mr Trump has heaped pressure on Mr Maduro, Venezuela’s president, demanding that he leave office, curb drug trafficking and hand over oil and territory.
In December he initiated a blockade on tankers carrying Venezuelan oil and ordered a CIA drone strike on a port facility on Venezuela’s coast, marking a significant escalation over the 35 previous strikes against boats at sea that began in September.
On December 22nd he publicly promised to “start the same program on land”.
Unlike many of his previous threats, that was no idle boast.
Mr Maduro, who blatantly stole the Venezuelan presidential election in 2024, now faces the prospect of a trial on American soil.
The vice-president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, broadcast a demand for proof-of-life of Mr Maduro; she is presumably now in charge of Venezuela.
But for the moment, what happens next remains extremely unclear.
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