![\"Smoke](\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/venezuela2026-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Smoke is seen over buildings after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard on Jan. 3, 2026 in Caracas, Venezuela. According to some reports, explosions were heard in Caracas and other cities near airports and military bases around 2 a.m. (Photo by Jesus Vargas\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States will \u201crun the country\u201d of Venezuela until \u201ca proper transition can take place,\u201d following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in a strike against the South American nation, a stunning move conducted without congressional notice or approval.<\/p>\n
Trump in a press conference from his Florida estate made it clear how much the secret military operation earlier Saturday related to securing oil, and he detailed how petroleum companies would finance the rebuilding of Venezuela\u2019s oil infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio also signaled other countries, such as Cuba, could face the same interventionist fate as Venezuela. \u201cIf I lived in Havana and worked for the government I\u2019d be concerned,\u201d Rubio said, referring to the communist nation\u2019s capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who was also captured, will be brought to New York to face a U.S. indictment on narco-terrorism and conspiracy charges originally levied in 2020. The Venezuelan\u2019s reelection to the presidency in 2024 was determined by many countries, including the U.S., to be illegitimate, and he has been characterized by the administration as the leader of a drug cartel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis extremely successful operation should serve as (a) warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWhat happened to Maduro could happen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The military strike quickly drew strong rebukes from Democratic lawmakers, who said the action superseded Congress\u2019 authority to declare war. It\u2019s also caused deep concern among world leaders, some of whom pushed for an emergency United Nations meeting.<\/p>\n
However, Republicans in Congress stood by the president\u2019s decision, saying it was justified.<\/p>\n
Trump did not give a timeline for how long the unusual U.S. intervention in Venezuela might go on, but said the next year would look different for the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to run the country until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,\u201d Trump said. He added that the U.S. would make Venezuela safe for \u201cthe great people of Venezuela, and that includes many from Venezuela that are now living in the United States and want to go back to their country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since taking office, the Trump administration has tried to end temporary and humanitarian legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants. Trump during the press conference repeated accusations that Maduro has sent Venezuelan immigrants with ties to the Tren de Aragua gang to the U.S.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s military action campaign, named \u201cAbsolute Resolve,\u201d came after he waged a months-long pressure campaign to oust the authoritarian leader. Dozens of boat strikes have been carried out in the Caribbean that the president and members of his administration have justified, without showing evidence, by saying the boats were carrying drugs to the U.S.<\/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 on his social media site, Truth Social, early Saturday. \u201cThis operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the Saturday press event at Mar-a-Lago started, the president posted a picture to social media of Maduro handcuffed, blindfolded and aboard the\u00a0U.S.S. Iwo Jima Navy ship.<\/p>\n
Trump at the press conference\u00a0was joined by Rubio; Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; and senior White House adviser Stephen Miller, who is a lead architect of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump said that an \u201coverwhelming American military power\u201d was used to capture Maduro and his wife in the \u201cdead of night\u201d from \u201cair, land and sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that no U.S. military members were killed in the operation, but did not rule out a continued presence for American troops in Venezuelan territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not afraid of boots on the ground,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Trump said those officials standing behind him at his press conference, \u201cfor a period of time,\u201d would \u201cbe running\u201d Venezuela.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The president offered few details on what that U.S. intervention would look like, but called it a \u201cpartnership.\u201d It\u2019s unclear if there are any American officials or troops stationed yet in or near Venezuela.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump also lodged a thinly veiled threat against the Cuban government.<\/p>\n
\u201cCuba is not doing really well right now,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI think Cuba is going to be something we\u2019ll end up talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the U.S. also wants to help Cubans who have been \u201cforced out of their country,\u201d so they can return to the island nation. The Trump administration has also moved to end humanitarian protections for more than 110,000 Cubans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rubio, whose parents were part of the first wave of Cuban exiles before the Fidel Castro regime took over the country, agreed, and criticized Cuba\u2019s government as being run by \u201cincompetent, senile men.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how the next in line to the presidency for Venezuela, Vice President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, will fare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump said that Rubio had a conversation with Rodr\u00edguez, and said \u201cshe\u2019s essentially willing to do what is necessary to make Venezuela great again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela\u2019s opposition party, and recent Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work to advance democracy in her home country, called for national unity and said that \u201cthe hour for freedom has arrived.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have struggled for years, we have given it our all, and it has been worth it. What had to happen is happening,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/a><\/p>\n Maduro and his wife will face a trial in the U.S. They have\u00a0been indicted<\/a> in the Southern District of New York, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n The DOJ also indicted their son, Nicol\u00e1s Ernesto Maduro Guerra, along with several other Venezuelan politicians, and the alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores.<\/p>\n President Maduro is 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 Bondi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2020, the first Trump administration lodged the same four counts of narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and conspiracy to possess machine guns.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new indictment includes Maduro\u2019s wife, son and the alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua gang.\u00a0<\/p>\n The news drew ire from Congress, which has the authority to declare war. New Jersey Democratic Sen. Andy Kim said for weeks Trump officials briefed Congress that the boat strikes were not \u201cabout regime change.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress,\u201d Kim wrote on social media. \u201cTrump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, said the capture of Maduro meant the Venezuelan president would be held accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s decisive action to disrupt the unacceptable status quo and apprehend Maduro, through the execution of a valid Department of Justice warrant, is an important first step to bring him to justice for the drug crimes for which he has been indicted in the United States,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n He added that when senators return to Congress Monday, he looks forward to additional security briefings from Trump officials.<\/p>\n House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, made similar remarks and called the attack \u201cjustified.\u201d He said he\u2019s working with the Trump administration to schedule briefings with House lawmakers when they return to Washington.<\/p>\n The top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, wrote on social media that without \u201cauthorization from Congress, and with the vast majority of Americans opposed to military action, Trump just launched an unjustified, illegal strike on Venezuela.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who is also co-chair of the Congressional Venezuela Democracy Caucus, said in a statement that the \u201ccapture of the brutal, illegitimate ruler of Venezuela \u2026 is welcome news for my friends and neighbors who fled his violent, lawless, and disastrous rule.\u201d<\/p>\n However, she called for the opportunity for Venezuelans to partake in democracy, such as being able to swear in the presidential candidate who won Venezuela\u2019s election in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n President-elect\u00a0Edmundo Gonzalez was forced into exile and fled to Spain under asylum. Voter results showed that Gonzalez won by a large margin, but Venezuelan government officials, without providing proof, determined that Maduro won.\u00a0<\/p>\n Utah\u2019s GOP Sen. Mike Lee initially questioned \u201cwhat, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.\u201d<\/p>\n But Lee later changed course after speaking with Rubio.<\/p>\n \u201cHe informed me that Nicol\u00e1s Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant,\u201d Lee said of Rubio.<\/p>\n Rubio has long stated that Venezuela\u2019s president is not legitimate, nor is his government. Rubio accused him of being the head of a drug cartel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe is not the legitimate president of Venezuela,\u201d Rubio said during Saturday\u2019s press conference. \u201cHe is a fugitive of American justice.\u201d<\/p>\n Rubio, who while in Congress was a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also defended a lack of notification to lawmakers.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not the kind of mission you can do congressional notification,\u201d Rubio said.\u00a0<\/p>\n For months, Democrats and a handful of Republican lawmakers have tried to curb the president\u2019s strikes in the Caribbean, which have killed about 115,\u00a0but Congress failed<\/a> to pass several War Powers Resolutions.<\/p>\n The War Powers Resolution of 1973 is a tool for Congress to check the power of the executive branch by limiting the president\u2019s ability to initiate or escalate military actions abroad.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who has pushed for the Senate to vote on the War Powers Resolution, said he will again advocate a vote to curb Trump\u2019s military actions in Venezuela.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the U.S. conducts military land strikes on Venezuela, more than half a million Venezuelan immigrants are legally fighting the Trump administration\u2019s move to end Temporary Protected Status.\u00a0<\/p>\n TPS is granted when a nation\u2019s home country is deemed too dangerous to return to, due to violence, such as war, or a major natural disaster.<\/p>\nIndictment in Southern District of New York<\/h4>\n
Andy Kim: Officials \u2018blatantly lied\u2019 to Congress<\/h4>\n
Mike Lee speaks to Rubio<\/h4>\n
Venezuelans in the US<\/h4>\n