US military strikes hit Venezuela’s capital before dawn on Saturday, shaking Caracas as US President Donald Trump reported that Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the country by US forces.
The attack followed months of US sabre rattling and Chinese warnings over growing US military and economic pressure on its oil-producing ally. It also came hours after Maduro met China’s special representative on Latin American affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi, in Caracas.
The US operation is expected to accelerate Beijing’s move to prioritise energy and other commercial interests and distance itself from a leader of diminishing political viability.
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Trump told Fox News he followed along live as US special forces captured Maduro. “I watched it, literally, like I was watching a television show,” he said. “And if you would have seen the speed, the violence.”
Trump added that the US is going to be “very strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry. “We have the greatest oil companies in the world, the biggest, the greatest, and we’re going to be very much involved in it,” he said.
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US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday on social media that Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, were expected to face charges in Manhattan federal court and “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts”.
Maduro has been in power nearly 13 years.
