In a stunning move, the White House announced that U.S. warplanes attacked several targets in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, including a military base.
Donald Trump also announced that Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country.
Nicolas Maduro Moros , ex-Dictador of Venezuela. Captured by Delta Force. #Venezuela #USA pic.twitter.com/y1drGdqaNI
— Miguel A. Giraldo (@mgiraldo76) January 3, 2026
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The attack on Caracas and what the U.S. government is claiming was a "law enforcement operation" in capturing Maduro and his wife occurred exactly 35 years after U.S. Marines captured Panama's narco-trafficking dictator Manuel Noriega.
🚨Nicolas Maduro should’ve studied history before waving a sword at President Trump.
— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) January 3, 2026
January 3, 1990 we captured Panama’s narcotrafficking dictator Manuel Noriega.
January 3, 2026 we captured #Venezuela’s narcoterrorist dictator Nicolas Maduro. pic.twitter.com/rjUTTRs8xw
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan people are beginning to celebrate.
Make no mistake, Nicolás Maduro and his wife being captured by the United States is being celebrated by Venezuelans everywhere. Even in Broward I hear people celebrating. The Ruskie botnets will be in overdrive saying otherwise but here's reality. Folks are done with communism. pic.twitter.com/iO0cjd6OW6
— Branch Floridian (@JackLinFLL) January 3, 2026
Capturing Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, marks an unprecedented intervention and a stunning fall for the Venezuelan leader who became president in 2013. The strikes prompted condemnations from Maduro supporters including Russia’s foreign ministry and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who called for a United Nations Security Council meeting, while Trump allies including Argentina President Javier Milei celebrated the news.
Maduro had already been the target of a US pressure campaign dating to Trump’s first term. The Trump administration has accused him of leading a drug-trafficking organization that represented a national security threat, while the US president has also made reference to the country’s vast oil reserves.
While few international companies operate in Venezuela because of US sanctions, Houston-based Chevron Corp. is a major partner to the country’s state oil producer, under a special license from the Treasury Department. The company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside business hours.
Democrats were unhappy with the news.
Second unjustified war in my life time.
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) January 3, 2026
This war is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year.
There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.
Many posters on X called out Gallego for his hypocrisy.
I thought you said you cared about democracy.
— Christopher Tremoglie (@chriswtremo) January 3, 2026
Well Maduro has suppressed democracy for years. He rigged an election and denied the right to vote of millions of Venezuelans.
You’re all for protecting democracy when it comes to Ukraine. Why do you not have the same vigor for…
Utah Senator Mike Lee said that Maduro will stand trial in the U.S. Lee talked with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told him no further military action in Venezuela is contemplated.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also said she spoke with Rubio on Venezuela and called for restraint, while reiterating the bloc’s view that Maduro lacks legitimacy.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the US’s “act of armed aggression against Venezuela,” saying that it’s important to avoid further escalation. In a social media post, Colombia’s Petro rejected “the aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.”
“Internal conflicts between peoples are resolved by those same peoples in peace,” he wrote. “That is the principle of the self-determination of peoples, which forms the foundation of the United Nations system.”
Indeed. Maybe we should ask the people of Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Ukraine how Russia follows the "principle of the self-determination of peoples."
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