Trump confirms US strikes on Venezuela and announces the capture and exfiltration of President Maduro

President Trump announced Saturday morning (Lebanon time) on social media that the United States has “captured Nicolás Maduro,” the Venezuelan leader, along with his wife, and that they are currently being “exfiltrated” from the country by plane. The president also claimed that the United States carried out “a large-scale strike against Venezuela.” He added in his post that he would hold a press conference at Mar-a-Lago at 11 a.m.

Strong explosions shook Caracas and surrounding areas in the middle of the night, prompting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to declare a state of emergency on Saturday and call for a nationwide “mobilization” following what he described as “military aggression by the United States.” CBS News and Fox News cited anonymous officials from President Donald Trump’s administration who indicated U.S. forces were involved. The White House and the Pentagon have not commented on the explosions or on reports of aircraft flying over the Venezuelan capital.

Trump has accused President Maduro of leading a vast drug-trafficking network, allegations Maduro denies, claiming instead that the United States seeks to overthrow him to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world.

A ‘very serious military aggression’

Caracas condemned what it called a “very serious military aggression” by the United States after the explosions, which lasted for more than an hour, and which Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who condemned the events, attributed to a “missile attack.”

“Venezuela rejects, repudiates, and denounces the very serious military aggression perpetrated by the United States against the territory and population of Venezuela, affecting both civilian and military areas of Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira,” the government said in a statement.

“Such aggression threatens international peace and stability and seriously endangers the lives of millions of people,” it added.

According to the statement, “The objective of this attack is to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, by attempting to break the nation’s political independence by force.”

The government called on all “social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and reject this imperialist attack,” and said President Nicolás Maduro had “signed and ordered the implementation of a Decree declaring a state of emergency, in strict accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.”

“The entire country must mobilize to defeat this imperialist aggression,” the statement concluded.

Strong explosions in the capital

Powerful explosions accompanied by noises resembling missile strikes or aircraft flyovers were heard shortly before 2 a.m. in Caracas and continued for more than an hour, according to an AFP journalist. The blasts came as President Donald Trump had recently raised the possibility of ground strikes against Venezuela and declared that Maduro’s “days were numbered,” after deploying a naval flotilla to the Caribbean.

Explosions were also reported at the Caracas airport and port in La Guaira, according to a resident who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity. Other residents reported hearing blasts in Higuerote, about 100 kilometers east of the capital. In many neighborhoods, people rushed to windows and rooftops to try to understand what was happening. Power outages were reported in parts of the city.

Some explosions rattled windows kilometers away and could not be immediately pinpointed. They appeared to occur in the southern and eastern parts of Caracas, and possibly at Fuerte Tiuna, the city’s large military complex.

‘I hear the planes’

“From here, we hear explosions near Fuerte Tiuna — I live in Valle. Right now, we hear something that sounds like a machine gun, like anti-aircraft defense,” said Emmanuel Parabavis, 29, a public relations worker, although he could not confirm whether bombers were involved. “We hear a lot of detonations and gunfire.”

“I was asleep when my girlfriend woke me up, saying they were bombing,” said 29-year-old Francis Peña. “I can’t see the explosions, but I hear the planes. We’re starting to prepare a bag with the most important things — passport, cards, cash, candles, a change of clothes, canned food. We’re charging everything and getting dressed, just in case.”

Earlier in the week, President Trump announced that the United States had destroyed a docking area allegedly used by boats involved in drug trafficking in Venezuela, which he described as the first U.S. ground operation on Venezuelan soil.

In an interview aired Thursday, President Maduro had expressed confidence, stating: “The national defense system has guaranteed and continues to guarantee territorial integrity, peace in the country, and the use and enjoyment of all our territories.”