<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump<\/span> claimed early Saturday that the U.S. had spirited Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro out of the country and taken him into custody, with the abduction marking an apparent regime change effort. <\/p>\n Hours after U.S. airstrikes lit up the night sky across the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Trump claimed credit for the attacks and said that Maduro had been taken into U.S. custody.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a> on Truth Social. \u201cThis operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.\u201d <\/p>\n The U.S. has not made such a direct intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose military leader Manuel Noriega.<\/p>\n Trump is set to address the nation from Mar-A-Lago at 11 am.<\/p>\n According to CBS News<\/a>, the operation to capture the 63-year-old Maduro was carried out by Delta Force, the elite unit of the U.S. Army special operations. According to Sky News, sources within the Venezuelan opposition described the capture<\/a> as a \u201cnegotiated exit.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Special Operations Command referred questions about Delta Force involvement in the operation to the White House. The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Trump finally broke his silence about the attacks just before 4:30 am with his post to Truth Social. Senior administration officials, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, immediately shared the post.<\/p>\n Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote on X that Secretary State of State Marco Rubio said he \u201canticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a telephone interview<\/a> with a Colombian news station, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez appeared to confirm the capture when she demanded that the U.S. provide proof of life of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro.<\/p>\n The Venezuelan government said in a statement that attacks struck the states of Aragua, Miranda, and La Guaira, in addition to Caracas, framing the strikes as part of a broader, nationwide assault.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack,\u201d the statement read. \u201cVenezuela reserves the right to exercise legitimate defense to protect its people, its territory, and its independence.\u201d read a Venezuelan government announcement issued early on Saturday. <\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s abduction of Maduro is an extension of long-running efforts<\/a> to topple the Venezuelan president which failed during Trump\u2019s first term<\/a>. Maduro and close allies were indicted<\/a> in a New York federal court in 2020 on charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. Earlier this year, the U.S. doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro\u2019s arrest to $50 million.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that Maduro had been indicted in the Southern District of New York alongside his wife, Cecilia Flores, who had not previously been charged. She did not make clear whether Maduro was facing a new indictment or additional charges on his existing one.<\/p>\n Bondi wrote<\/a> on X that Maduro had been charged with \u201cNarco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.\u201d Of Maduro and Flores, she wrote that \u201cThey will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.\u201d <\/p>\n In a March filing related to Maduro\u2019s 2020 indictment, the Trump administration claims that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was acting as \u201ca de facto arm of<\/a>\u201d Maduro\u2019s government, but the Office of the Director of National Intelligence determined<\/a> earlier this year that the \u201cMaduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. maintains that Tren de Aragua is both engaging in irregular warfare against and in a non-international armed conflict with the United States. These are, however, mutually exclusive designations<\/a> which cannot occur simultaneously.<\/p>\n The Trump administration also claims that another criminal organization, C\u00e1rtel de los Soles<\/a>, is \u201cheaded by Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals,\u201d despite little evidence that such a group exists<\/a>. Secretary of State Marco Rubio continued to make such claims on X on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201c[Maduro] doesn\u2019t want to fuck around with the United States,\u201d Trump told reporters<\/a> in October.<\/p>\n Last month, Trump told Politico<\/a> that Maduro\u2019s \u201cdays are numbered.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, its president Manuel Noriega was captured and brought to Miami for trial over alleged drugs offenses. After 20 years in U.S. custody he was extradited<\/a> to France. Noriega later returned to Panama, where he died in 2017.<\/p>\n According to the Associated Press<\/a>, the attack on Venezuela spanned roughly 30 minutes, leaving areas of the city without power as smoke rose above a military base in the capital.<\/p>\n Phil Gunson, a Caracas-based analyst with the International Crisis Group, told The Intercept he heard \u201cheavy aircraft\u201d at high altitude, while other witnesses reported hearing low-flying aircraft and videos on social media appeared to show helicopters flying low over the city.<\/p>\n Jose De Bastos, a Venezuelan journalist based in Washington D.C., told The Intercept that his friends and family in Caracas reported hearing the attacks from all over the capital.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone I know there woke up with the explosions,\u201d De Bastos told The Intercept just before 4 am ET. \u201cFor maybe two hours they kept saying that the explosions had stopped but they kept hearing helicopters and planes, but they say it\u2019s quiet now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost people didn\u2019t really believe this would happen,\u201d De Bastos said. <\/p>\n Representatives of the U.S. military were tightlipped on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have no comment to add,\u201d Steven McLoud, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command told The Intercept when asked for additional details. \u201cThe President is scheduled to make an announcement later this morning concerning the strikes overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n In a security alert posted early Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, which has been shuttered since 2019, issued a warning via the U.S. embassy in neighboring Colombia to any U.S. citizens in Venezuela or planning to travel there.<\/p>\n \u201cU.S. Embassy Bogota is aware of reports of explosions in and around Caracas, Venezuela,\u201d the alert read. \u201cThe U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, warns U.S. citizens not to travel to Venezuela. U.S. citizens in Venezuela should shelter in place.\u201d<\/p>\n The attacks drew swift condemnation from Gustavo Petro, the left-leaning president of Colombia.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Government of the Republic of Colombia observes with deep concern the reports of explosions and unusual aerial activity recorded in recent hours in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as well as the consequent escalation of tension in the region,\u201d Petro said<\/a>. \u201cThe Republic of Colombia reiterates its conviction that peace, respect for international law, and the protection of life and human dignity must prevail over any form of armed confrontation.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump declined to say whether he sought congressional approval before launching strikes on Venezuela and seizing Maduro, The New York Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Congressional Democrats roundly condemned the attacks. \u201cWithout authorization from Congress, and with the vast majority of Americans opposed to military action, Trump just launched an unjustified, illegal strike on Venezuela,\u201d wrote Rep. Jim McGovern<\/a>, D-Mass., the ranking member of the powerful House Rules Committee, who previously introduced a war powers resolution<\/a> to block strikes on Venezuela. <\/p>\n \u201cLet us be clear: these strikes are illegal,\u201d Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-NM wrote on X. \u201cThe President does not have the authority to declare war or undertake large-scale military operations without Congress. Congress must act to rein him in. Immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force,\u201d wrote Lee, the Utah senator.<\/p>\n Lee\u2019s concerns were apparently assuaged by Rubio. \u201cHe informed me\u2026 that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant,\u201d wrote Lee.<\/a> \u201cThis action likely falls within the president\u2019s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack.\u201d <\/p>\n The Trump administration has used the same Article II argument to justify its boat strikes.<\/p>\n Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told The Intercept that Rubio had \u201crepeatedly denied to Congress that the Administration intended to force regime change in Venezuela,\u201d and added that the Trump administration owed Congress answers.<\/p>\n Since late August, the Pentagon has flooded the region with troops<\/a>, aircraft, and naval warships in the Caribbean. The U.S. military has attacked more than 30 alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing at least 115 people<\/a>. Experts in the laws of war and members of Congress, from both parties<\/a>, have said the strikes are illegal extrajudicial killings <\/a>because the military is not permitted to deliberately target civilians \u2014 even suspected criminals \u2014 who do not pose an imminent threat of violence.<\/p>\n The U.S. also seized one tanker<\/a> carrying Venezuelan oil and menaced others. The C.I.A. conducted a drone strike on a port facility in Venezuela<\/a> late last month, according to a government official briefed on the operation.<\/p>\n The U.S. has intervened<\/a> to oust governments in Latin America a total of at least 41 times \u2014 about once every 28 months from 1898 to 1994 \u2014 including 17 direct interventions by the U.S. military, intelligence agencies, or locals employed by U.S. government agencies, according to ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America. <\/p>\n Washington attempted at least 18 covert regime changes<\/a> in Latin America during the Cold War alone, Foreign Affairs noted earlier this year, which included deposing nine governments<\/a> that fell to military rulers in the 1960s, about one every 13 months.<\/p>\n In 1954, the U.S. helped overthrow Guatemala\u2019s democratically elected government<\/a>, ushering in a military junta that jailed political opponents, igniting an almost two-decade long civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. In 1961, the U.S. also backed the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and fomented a coup in the Dominican Republic, which sparked years of unrest and U.S. election meddling. This, in turn, led to a 1965 invasion of the island nation by U.S. Marines. <\/p>\nHistory Rhymes<\/strong><\/h2>\n