US EditionSpies, drones and blowtorches: How the US captured Maduro
Operation Absolute Resolve involved over 150 aircraft and elite Delta Force troops to capture Nicolás Maduro and his wife for drug trafficking and weapons charges, U.S. officials said.
- On Saturday, US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, then flew them to the USS Iwo Jima to be transferred to New York for trial, President Donald Trump said.
- Months of planning and rehearsal led to the raid, with the CIA maintaining a small team on the ground since August and an asset monitoring Maduro during Operation Absolute Resolve on Jan 2 .
- More than 150 aircraft launched from 20 bases including F-35s supported Special Forces and FBI agents who breached the residence with a blow torch, while helicopters flying at about 30 metres extracted Maduro after self-defence engagements.
- Trump hailed the raid as unmatched and said no US service members were killed; some were wounded and one helicopter was struck but flyable, while congressional oversight notifications began only after the operation started and Senator Marco Rubio informed lawmakers.
- The Pentagon's Caribbean build-up included an aircraft carrier, 11 warships and over 15,000 troops, while Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and John Ratcliffe planned the operation for months.
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206 Articles
Operation Absolute Resolve and Delta Force: Inside America’s Most Secretive Missions
Quick Read Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela involved over 150 aircraft with no American casualties reported. Delta Force captured Saddam Hussein in 2003 after months of intelligence work narrowed his location to a rural area near Tikrit. Operation Eagle Claw’s 1980 failure led to the creation of U.S. Special Operations Command and modernized joint mission planning. Are you ahead, or behind on retirement? SmartAsset’s free tool can mat…
On January 3, 2026, US Special Forces, in Operation Absolute Resolve, captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at Fort Tiuna in Caracas. The raid was carried out by Delta Force, following airstrikes supported by over 150 aircraft. Maduro was extradited to New York on narco-terrorism charges.
CIA operatives tracked Venezuelan dictator for months before Saturday morning capture operation
The United States executed a dramatic military operation early Saturday morning to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife from their heavily guarded compound in Caracas. The mission involved more than 150 aircraft, including fighter jets, bombers, and helicopters, and represented the culmination of months of intelligence gathering by CIA operatives embedded in Venezuela.
Trump Is Risking Another Forever War
When President George W. Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq in 2003, I was about to graduate college and was two weeks away from going on active duty in the Marines. I listened to Bush’s speech with a mentor of mine, a Marine captain who’d taken a sabbatical to earn his master’s in international affairs. We grew depressed as we listened to the president’s remarks; we thought we had missed the war.As Bush went on about the stunning achi…
The U.S. incursion, prepared for months, combined covert intelligence, air defence attacks, and a night-time extraction that increased the number of fatalities over the hours.
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