US Military Strikes Venezuela: Trump Announces 'Capture' Of Maduro And Wife

Explosions lighting up the night sky. Panic in the streets. A president claiming victory before dawn. On the first Saturday of 2026, Venezuela was thrust into chaos after President Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured in a large-scale US military operation.

The dramatic claim, delivered not in a formal address but via social media, came just hours after a series of airstrikes rocked the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and surrounding regions. What unfolded was a moment of grave international jeopardy: a sitting US president boasting of regime change, a Latin American nation under bombardment, and allies and adversaries rushing to condemn what they labelled an attack on sovereignty and international law.

Trump Claims Maduro 'Captured' After Venezuela Strikes

In a statement posted online, Trump declared: '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.' He added that the operation had been conducted 'in conjunction with US Law Enforcement' and promised that 'details [were] to follow.'

The announcement followed reports of at least seven explosions and low‑flying aircraft over Caracas and surrounding states beginning around 2 a.m. local time. Witnesses described the sound of jets and blasts tearing through the darkness as strikes hit sites in Miranda, where Caracas is located, as well as nearby Aragua and La Guaira.

Photos from the ground showed plumes of smoke and flames, including a major fire at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela's largest military complex in the capital.

'The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes in the distance,' one resident, Carmen Hidalgo, told the Associated Press. 'We felt like the air was hitting us.' Power cuts followed in several areas as the strikes triggered outages and panic among civilians navigating the streets in the early hours.

In response to the escalation, US aviation authorities moved swiftly. The Federal Aviation Administration imposed a ban on US commercial flights over Venezuelan airspace, citing 'ongoing military activity', while the US Embassy in Caracas urged Americans not to travel to the country and advised those already there to leave as soon as possible.

Venezuela Condemns 'Aggression' As Maduro Declares Emergency

Within hours, the Venezuelan government issued a furious statement condemning what it called an act of US 'aggression' and a clear violation of the United Nations charter. Officials insisted that the real objective of the strikes was 'none other than to seize Venezuela's strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, attempting to forcibly break the nation's political independence.'

'They will not succeed,' the statement continued. 'After more than two hundred years of independence, the people and their legitimate government remain steadfast in defence of sovereignty and the inalienable right to determine their own destiny.' Maduro's administration accused Washington of trying to engineer regime change under the guise of counter‑narcotics and security operations.

Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela for 13 years and faces US charges of narco‑terrorism, responded by declaring a state of emergency and ordering 'all national defence plans to be implemented'. The measure hands sweeping powers to the presidency, allowing rights to be suspended and the role of the armed forces expanded.

'Today, with the spirit of Bolivar, Miranda, and our liberators, the Venezuelan people rise up once again to defend their independence against imperial aggression. People, take to the streets!' the government's message urged.

The strikes came just days after Maduro had publicly claimed his regime was 'ready' to discuss an agreement with the US to combat drug trafficking, telling Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet in a televised interview that Caracas was prepared for 'serious' talks on the issue.

That outreach followed reports of a CIA drone strike on a Venezuelan docking area allegedly used by cartels, underscoring how tensions between the two countries had been steadily climbing even before the weekend's events.

Regional Leaders Warn Of Escalation After Venezuela Bombing

The international response was swift and sharp. Colombian President Gustavo Petro warned that a neighbouring country had been 'attacked' and called for emergency meetings of both the Organization of American States and the United Nations. 'Right now they are bombing Caracas. Alert to the whole world, they have attacked Venezuela,' he wrote on X. 'They are bombing with missiles. The OAS and the UN must meet immediately.'

Cuban President Miguel Díaz‑Canel went further, branding the operation 'criminal activity' by the US and accusing Washington of 'state terrorism against the brave Venezuelan people and against Our America.' Referring to Latin America's aspiration to be a 'Peace Zone', he declared: 'Our "Peace Zone" is being brutally assaulted. Homeland or Death We Shall Overcome!'

The strikes also unfolded against the backdrop of a deepening humanitarian and diplomatic crisis. Venezuela had detained at least five US citizens following the Trump administration's latest military and economic pressure campaign, including New Yorker James Luckey‑Lange, who says he was wrongfully held after crossing the Venezuelan border on a long overland trip through Latin America.

The detentions, combined with sanctions and earlier US drone activity against alleged smuggling targets off the Venezuelan coast, had already pushed relations to breaking point.

As footage circulated of soldiers guarding the Miraflores presidential palace, pedestrians running for cover and smoke rising above La Carlota airbase, the full impact of the strikes – and Trump's claim of capturing Maduro – remained unclear.

What was obvious, however, was that the opening days of 2026 had plunged Venezuela, and much of the region, into one of the most volatile confrontations in recent years, with the risk of wider conflict hanging over every new statement and strike.