US’s strike wipes out Maduro’s dictatorship
di Valentina Cordero (Corrispondente da New York)
The Venezuelan President was captured along with his wife and will face charges in New York City
At 2am (1am ET) of Saturday January 3rd, Venezuela finally saw an end to President Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship, who succeeded Hugo Chavez in 2013. Thanks to a United States large scale strike, called “Operation Absolute Resolve,” he and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured, dragged from their bedroom and brought by helicopter to the assault ship USS Iwo Jima positioned offshore, and are now being flown to New York City on a military aircraft.
They both have been indicted, according to US attorney general Palm Bondi, in the Southern District of New York, where Maduro, who oversaw the drug Cartel de Los Soles, is expected to face cocaine-importation conspiracy, narco-terrorism conspiracy, and weapon charges.
The indictment says that as early as 1999, Maduro and his co-defendants have been partnered with international drug trafficking organizations, such as Mexico’s Sinaloa and the Zetas, and Colombian groups. Also, between 2006 and 2008, Maduro sold Venezuelan diplomatic passports to some known drug traffickers in order to move drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela under diplomatic cover.
The capture was the results of months of work and rehearsal where the US, in collaboration with multiple agencies, such as CIA, National Security Agency, and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, worked to get all the possible information on Maduro’s daily habits, how he moved, what he ate, where he lived, including the names of his pets. The operation was already set to go as early as December 2025, and was pending because of some events, due to weather conditions. At 10:46pm on Friday January 2nd, US President Donald Trump gave the green light order. More than 150 aircraft were on air, between fighters, bombers, intelligence, and surveillance, taking off from 20 different military bases and Navy ships. Some of the aircraft included F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lighting II, and F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters, B-1 Lancer bombers, and EA-18 Growler electronic attack planes. The helicopters carrying the force flew at 100 feet above the water during their approach to Venezuela.
Several explosions were reported across Caracas, and five locations targeted were identified: Fuerte Tiuna, key military facility in Caracas, Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base, an airfield known as La Carlota, Higuerota Airport, located east of Caracas, Port la Guaira, which is located in Miranda State is the main passage to the Caribbean Sea, and Antenas El Volcan, a telecom tower on Cerro El Volcan in Miranda State.
“The youngest crew member was 20 and our oldest crew member was 49,” said General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during the press conference with US President Donald Trump today at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Caine explained that the aircraft came into Venezuela in order to destroy the country’s air defense and make it possible for helicopters to carry US special operations forces to Maduro’s compound. During the process, part of the power in Caracas was turned off by the US. By 3.29am ET, Maduro and his wife were embarked aboard the assault ship. A second wave of US forces is standing by and ready to intervene, President Trump explained, in case someone is trying to challenge the US.
“It was an operation unlike anything seen since WWII,” President Trump said during his speech today. He explained that the US will run Venezuela until a proper transition can take place, because “we can’t take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the interests of Venezuelan people in mind.” The group of people who would step in to do so, will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“As everyone knows, Venezuela’s oil industry has collapsed for years. Production fell to almost nothing compared to what it should have been. We will bring in our largest U.S. oil companies – the biggest in the world – to invest billions of dollars and repair the severely damaged oil infrastructure,” he added. “This new partnership between Venezuela and the United States – a nation everyone wants to align with because of our success and power – will make the Venezuelan people prosperous, independent, and secure. It will also bring relief to Venezuelans living in the United States who have suffered greatly. That suffering ends now.”
Trump was very firm in his words, saying that what happened to Maduro can happen to other political or military figures if they do not act fairly toward their people. “The dictator, and terrorist Maduro is finally gone. The Venezuelan people are free again,” Trump concluded.
