US attacks Venezuela, Trump says Maduro caught after ‘major strike’ – National
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – The United States hit Venezuela with a “massive strike” early Saturday and said its president, Nicolás Maduro, was being held and flown out of the country after months of mounting pressure from Washington – a dramatic overnight move announced by President Donald Trump on social media hours after the attack.
Multiple explosions erupted and low-flying planes swept over Caracas, the capital, as Maduro’s government quickly accused the United States of attacking civilian and military facilities. The Venezuelan government called it an “imperialist attack” and urged citizens to take to the streets.
At the moment it was not clear who was in charge of the country, and Maduro’s whereabouts were not known. Trump announced the development on Truth Social shortly after 4:30 am ET. Under Venezuelan law the vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, will take over. There is no evidence of what happened, although he issued a statement after the strike.
“We don’t know where President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores are,” Rodriguez said. “We want proof of life.”
Maduro, Trump said, “was, along with his wife, kidnapped and deported. This operation was carried out in cooperation with US Law Enforcement. Details will follow.” He called a news conference later on Saturday morning.
The legal impact of the strike under American law was unclear. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, tweeted that he spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who informed him of the strike. Rubio told Lee that Maduro was “arrested by American agents to face criminal charges in the United States.”
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about where Maduro and his wife were being flown. Maduro was indicted in March 2020 on charges of conspiracy to commit “narco-terrorism” in the Southern District of New York.
Maduro was last seen on state television on Friday when he met with a delegation of Chinese officials in Caracas.
Explosions in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, early on the third day of 2026 – at least seven explosions – sent people running into the streets, while others took to social media to report hearing and seeing explosions. It is not clear whether there were any casualties on both sides. The attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes and it was not immediately clear if further action would be taken, although Trump said in his post that the strikes were “successful.”
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ban on US commercial flights in Venezuela’s airspace due to “ongoing military activity” before the explosion.
The strike comes after the Trump administration spent months increasing pressure on Maduro. The CIA staged a truckers’ strike last week at a warehouse believed to be used by Venezuelan drug cartels – the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US began strikes in September.
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It had been months since Trump threatened that he would soon order strikes on the target areas in the country of Venezuela following months of attacks on boats suspected of carrying drugs. Maduro has denounced the operation by the US military as a covert attempt to overthrow him.
Some streets in Caracas are congested
Armed people and uniformed members of the regular army took to the streets of the Caracas neighborhood that had long been considered a stronghold of the ruling party. But in other parts of the city, streets remained empty for hours after the attack. Parts of the city remained without electricity, but vehicles were able to move freely.
Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed trails and smoke billowing into the sky as repeated, muted explosions lit up the night sky. Other images showed a city scene with cars driving by on a freeway as the explosion lit up the hills behind them. A muffled conversation could be heard in the background. Videos verified by the Associated Press.
Smoke was seen rising from the base of a military base in Caracas, while other military installations in the capital were without power.
“It shook everywhere. This is terrible. We heard explosions and planes,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice shaking. He was walking quickly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the wind was hitting us.”
Pedestrians run after an explosion and a low-flying plane are heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix).
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The Venezuelan government responded to the attack and said that action must be taken. “People are going to the streets!” said the statement. “The Bolivarian government asks all the social and political forces in the country to work on mobilization programs and fight against this imperialist attack.”
The statement added that Maduro “ordered all national defense systems to be deployed” and declared a “state of external disturbance.” That crisis gives him the power to freeze human rights and expand the role of the military.
The website of the US Embassy in Venezuela, which has been closed since 2019, issued a warning to US citizens in the country, saying it is “aware of reports of explosions in and around Caracas.”
“American citizens in Venezuela should be sheltered in place,” the warning said.
Reactions begin to emerge
Inquiries to the Pentagon and the US Southern Command since Trump’s social media posts went unanswered. The FAA warned all US commercial and private pilots that airspace over Venezuela and the small island nation of Curacao, near the country’s coast to the north, was off limits “due to flight safety risks associated with ongoing military activity.”
Lee relayed his potential concerns, reflecting a right-wing perspective in Congress. “I look forward to learning what, if anything, would justify this action constitutionally other than a declaration of war or authorization of the use of military force,” Lee told X.
It was not clear whether the US Congress had been formally notified of the strikes.
The Armed Services committees in both houses of Congress, which have jurisdiction over military affairs, were not informed by the administration of any actions, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss it.
Lawmakers of both political parties in Congress raised serious doubts and put down opposition to the US attack on boats suspected of smuggling drugs near the coast of Venezuela and Congress did not directly authorize the use of the military to carry out such operations in the region.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the military action and Maduro’s capture marked “the dawn of a new era in Venezuela,” adding that “the dictator is gone.” You wrote X hours after the strike. His boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also sent a letter from July that said Maduro “is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT a legitimate government.”
Cuba, a supporter of Maduro’s government and a longtime adversary of the United States, has called on the international community to respond to what president Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called a “criminal attack.” “Our place of peace is being brutally attacked,” he told X. Iran’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the strikes.
Argentina’s President Javier Milei praised his close ally Trump’s claim that Maduro was taken by a political slogan he often uses to celebrate right-wing developments: “Long live freedom, dammit!”
The US military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the death toll is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.
They follow a major buildup of U.S. forces in South American waters, including the arrival in November of the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier, adding thousands of troops to what was already the region’s largest military force in generations.
Trump justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs to the US and asserted that the US was facing an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
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Toropin and AP reporter Lisa Mascaro reported from Washington.
