In the early hours of the morning, American forces carried out strikes on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, as well as other locations across the country, with local reports of explosions believed to be targeting military facilities. President Maduro then declared a state of emergency and confirmed that American strikes had taken place in Caracas and in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.The attack went on for roughly 30 minutes with low-flying helicopters seen and at least seven explosions heard by local residents, including some who filmed the event. .Trump then wrote on his Truth Social platform that President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured and flown out of the country to stand trial in the United States. This statement was parroted by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement on X which read that "Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.".According to Nahum Fernández, a leader in the Venezuelan ruling party, Maduro and his wife were "kidnapped" from their home inside the Ft. Tiuna military installation. According to CBS News, the capture of Maduro was undertaken by the special operations unit, Delta Force, in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement. With the whereabouts of Maduro unknown, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has demanded "proof of life" from the president and his wife. The Vice President also confirmed that "some" civilians and members of the military had been killed in the strikes but didn't give any specific number. .Photos of a captured Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima were then released to the public showing the Venezuelan President blindfolded and handcuffed. .In a press conference following the capture of Maduro, President Trump stated that the United States would "run" Venezuela until a proper transition of power could be completed. "We're in the oil business," Trump says of his plans for Venezuela. "We'll be selling large amounts of oil to other countries.""We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.".This action to oust Maduro comes as a relief to many Venezuelans, including those in its vast, international diaspora. One of the these is Calgarian Miguel Arturo Possamai who says that the action of the American government represents a much needed, and long overdue change in the power structure of Venezuela. ."Nicolas Maduro has been terrorising my people for a long, long time," said Possamai, "Since 2017, when things got really, really bad, Venezuelans didn't have access to social media. News didn't go in or come out unless it was via WhatsApp. If you said something opposing to the government you had to go into hiding because they are going to capture you." .However Possamai says that Maduro is just the "head of the snake" and that "his generals are still in, so those need to be taken down as well.... they need to dismantle his apparatus." He went on to say that he hopes the next steps the American government takes is to hold democratic elections and allow "us to run our country."
