Explained | How US captured Venezuela president Maduro in '30-minute' raid using 150 aircrafts, 7 explosions

Trump released the image of captured Maduro

• US forces captured Venezuelan President Maduro in a large, coordinated operation
• Operation involved over 150 aircraft and multiple US military branches
• Trump says US will oversee Venezuela until a safe transition is possible

Did our AI summary help?

The United States has disclosed fresh details about the covert military action that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, portraying it as a vast, meticulously coordinated mission spanning the Western Hemisphere and involving more than 150 aircrafts.

President Donald Trump, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago club and later in television interviews, praised the raid as an extraordinary display of American military capability. He described the action as one marked by “breathtaking speed, power, precision and competence,” adding, “No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday.”

According to Trump, the assault unfolded under cover of darkness, with much of the Venezuelan capital plunged into blackout conditions. “It was dark and it was deadly,” he said.

Senior military officials provided a more detailed account of how the operation unfolded. The Time of India reported General Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the mission -- codenamed Operation Absolute Resolve -- was executed “during the darkest hours of January 2nd” after months of preparation, rehearsals and coordination across multiple US agencies. He revealed that Trump authorised the operation at 10:46 p.m. Eastern Time.

Describing the scale of the mission, Caine called it “an audacious operation that only the United States could do”. He said it brought together air, ground, maritime, space and intelligence capabilities in a way rarely seen. “The Force included F-22s, F-35s, F-18s, EA-18s, E-2s, B-1 bombers, and other support aircraft, as well as numerous remotely piloted drones,” he said.

According to Caine, US forces reached Maduro’s compound at precisely 1:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, or 2:01 a.m. local time in Caracas. “The apprehension force descended into Maduro's compound and moved with speed, precision and discipline towards their objective and isolated the area to ensure the safety and security of the ground force,” he said.

Trump claimed Maduro had been heavily protected inside a palace-like complex that functioned “like a fortress”. He said US troops had practiced the raid on a full-scale replica of the building and were ready to breach reinforced rooms using “massive blowtorches” if necessary. However, Maduro did not manage to reach a secure area before being seized. Trump said the entire assault lasted less than half an hour and that at least seven explosions were heard across Caracas during the operation.

General Caine emphasised that the mission relied on seamless cooperation among soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and guardians, alongside intelligence services and law enforcement agencies. “We watched, we waited, we prepared, we remained patient and professional,” he said. Intelligence contributions from the CIA, NSA and NGA were described as vital to the outcome.

At the heart of the plan was what Caine called an extraordinarily exact extraction effort. “An extraction so precise it involved more than 150 aircraft launching across the Western Hemisphere in close coordination, all coming together in time and place to layer effects for a single purpose,” he said. That objective was “to get an interdiction force into downtown Caracas while maintaining the element of tactical surprise”. He warned that a breakdown at any stage “would have endangered the entire mission”, stressing that “failure is never an option for America’s joint force”.

Trump said US casualties were minimal, stating that only “a couple of guys were hit” and that no American personnel were killed or equipment lost. Venezuelan authorities, however, reported that civilians and members of the country’s armed forces died during the operation, without providing numbers.

Following Maduro’s capture, Trump said Washington would take charge of Venezuela in the immediate period ahead. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he said, offering no timeline. The US Justice Department later confirmed that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, face narco-terrorism charges in the United States.