The United States has captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a two-and-a-half-hour night raid on Caracas. The operation, which involved at least 150 aircraft and months of planning, was carried out by elite Delta Force troops and supported by extensive intelligence gathering.
Critical to the operation was the work of the CIA and other US intelligence agencies, which began monitoring Maduro's movements from as early as August. Despite Maduro's efforts to evade capture by changing his sleeping location regularly and relying on Cuban counterintelligence, his location was fixed at a compound on Fuerte Tiuna, a key military base in Caracas, on Friday evening.
The US military achieved tactical surprise by suppressing Venezuela's air defences, bombing airbases and communications centres with Tomahawk cruise missiles and AGM-88 Harm anti-radiation weapons. Power in Caracas was largely turned off, possibly due to a cyber-attack, according to President Donald Trump. The Delta Force team flew at low altitude to evade radar detection, landing at Fuerte Tiuna without any aircraft being hit.
The capture plunges 30 million Venezuelans into uncertainty, as the US has also briefed that it had a human source inside the Venezuelan government. The operation, named Operation Absolute Resolve, was authorised by President Trump at 10.46pm Eastern Time on Friday, with the final go order given after months of preparation.
