At 1.50am on 3 Jan (Venezuelan time), the United States (US) launched an attack in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
The attack reportedly killed at least 40 people, including military personnel and civilians, a senior Venezuelan official told the New York Times.
Source: @VPITV on X
Later, US President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that the US has captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Maduro has been the president of Venezuela for nearly 13 years, since 2013, according to the US Department of State.
Source: Truth Social
Maduro, whom Trump called an “illegitimate dictator” and a “kingpin” of a drug trafficking network, was indicted with his wife in New York “for their campaign of deadly narco-terrorism against the United States and its citizens”.
In a press conference on 3 Jan, Trump also announced that the US “is going to run” Venezuela “until such time that we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition”.
He said they do not want anyone interfering, which will leave Venezuela in the same situation it has been in for many years.
Source: Palacio de Miraflores via El Pais
“We want peace, freedom, and justice for the great people of Venezuela,” he said.
However, Trump also said the US will bring its oil companies into Venezuela to “fix the badly broken oil infrastructure and start making money for the country”.
“The oil business in Venezuela has been a total bust for a long period of time. They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping,” he stated.
Maduro’s capture garnered mixed reactions from politicians and Venezuelans alike.
While many Hispanic Americans gathered in Times Square to protest against the attacks, hundreds of Venezuelans in the city of Doral, Miami — which has the largest Venezuelan diaspora in the US — took to the streets to celebrate, El País reported.
Some politicians also condemned the attacks, while others expressed support towards the US.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump “for his courageous and historic leadership in the name of freedom and justice” on the social media platform X.
Source: X
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also said the attack on Venezuela was a “legitimate” means of defending against drug trafficking, but stressed that foreign military intervention “is not the best way to end totalitarian regimes.”
Meanwhile, Democratic politicians criticised the attack against Venezuela.
“Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law,” newly appointed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on X.
On the same platform, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote:
This isn’t about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month. It’s about oil and regime change.
Source: X
On 3 Jan, the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela also appointed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as acting president after declaring Maduro’s “temporary absence”, El País reported.
Source: Noticias Venevision via El Pais
Following her appointment, Trump has threatened to launch a second wave of attacks against the country if Rodríguez does not do what the US wants.
Trump reportedly told the New York Times that Rodríguez had offered her full support to the White House while speaking with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“We will do whatever is necessary,” the president quoted Rodríguez as saying.
“She has no other choice,” Trump added.
Also read: President Trump launches ‘Gold Card’ programme offering fast-track US residency for S$1.3 million
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Featured image adapted from The White House on YouTube, Truth Social.