US bombs Venezuela as Trump says Maduro 'captured and flown out'
US President confirms strikes and says Venezuelan president has been caught
Updated 12.10pm
US military forces bombed Venezuela's capital city Caracas overnight on Saturday, with Donald Trump saying the country's president Nicolas Maduro had been "captured and flown out" of the country.
"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 his social network Truth Social.
A news conference is scheduled to take place at 11am (5pm Malta time).
Donald Trump confirmed the attack and capture. Photo: Truth SocialThe Venezuelan government said attacks had occurred in Caracas as well as in three states - Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. There was no confirmation from the Venezuelan side about Maduro's capture.
The government said Maduro had declared a state of emergency but the 63-year-old socialist was himself nowhere to be seen. The defence ministry accused the United States of targeting residential areas and announced a "massive deployment" of its military resources.
Maduro to 'stand trial' in US: Rubio
In a brief phone interview with The New York Times, Trump hailed the "brilliant" operation.
"A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people," the paper quoted Trump as saying.
The US army's elite Delta Force unit carried out the operation to seize Maduro, CBS News reported. US officials did not immediately confirm the report.
The US military action was now complete, with Maduro having been arrested to "stand trial" in the United States, a US senator quoted Secretary of State Marco Rubio as saying.
"He anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in US custody," Senator Mike Lee, a Republican initially critical of the operation, wrote on X after what he said was a telephone call with Rubio.
The Trump administration in August offered a $50 million reward for information leading to the capture of Maduro, whom it accuses of leading the alleged "Cartel of the Suns" drug trafficking organisation.
Air base, airport targeted
Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela's largest military complex, situated in the south of Caracas, and Carlota airbase in the north were among the targets of the strikes. Blasts were also heard in La Guaira, north of the capital, where Caracas's airport and port are located.
"I felt like (the explosions) lifted me out of bed, and I immediately thought, 'God, the day has come,' and I cried," María Eugenia Escobar, a 58-year-old resident of La Guaira, told AFP.
As the strikes began in the dead of night, residents of Caracas rushed to their windows and terraces to try to make sense of events.
Others hid in safe, windowless spaces, fearful of breaking glass.
Videos shared on social media showed helicopters silhouetted against the night sky.
Power has been cut in certain parts Caracas, according to residents.
Spain offers to mediate
Colombia dispatched troops to its Venezuela border as it condemned the attack - a condemnation echoed by many of Maduro's allies.
Spain, which has not recognised the results of Venezuela's 2024 elections, said it was willing to mediate in the crisis.
Spain "has welcomed, and will continue to welcome, tens of thousands of Venezuelans forced to leave their country for political reasons, and … stands ready to help in the search for a democratic, negotiated, and peaceful solution for the country," Spain's foreign ministry said in a statement that called for "de-escalation and restraint."
Russia described the US action a "deeply concerning and condemnable" act of "armed aggression. "The pretexts used to justify such actions are untenable. Ideological hostility has triumphed over businesslike pragmatism," it added.
Weeks of pressure
Trump has previously deployed a navy task force to the Caribbean and raised the possibility of ground strikes against Venezuela earlier this week. He has been steadily mounting US military and economic pressure on Maduro and Venezuela's oil-export-dependent economy.
A huge naval and aerial presence has been established in the Caribbean, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships. US forces have seized two tankers at sea as part of an oil blockade on Venezuela and killed more than 100 people in aerial strikes to destroy small boats accused of drug trafficking.
A night view of Caracas on Friday. Photo: AFPThe Trump administration has accused Maduro of heading a drug cartel and says it is cracking down on trafficking, but the leftist leader denies any involvement in the narcotics trade, saying Washington is seeking to overthrow him because Venezuela has the largest known reserves of oil on Earth.
On Monday, he said it would be "smart" for Maduro, whose re-election in 2024 was widely dismissed by the international community as fraudulent, to step down.
He also said the United States had hit and destroyed a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats.
Maduro had said on Thursday that he was open to cooperation with Washington.
The United States since Trump's first term has not considered Maduro the legitimate president of Venezuela following elections that international observers said were riddled with irregularities.
In an apparent bid to force him out, Washington in recent weeks informally closed Venezuela's airspace in recent weeks, imposed more sanctions and ordered the seizure of tankers loaded with Venezuelan oil.
US forces have also carried out numerous strikes on boats in both the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, targeting what Washington says are drug smugglers.
The strikes have killed at least 107 people, according to the US military.