Nicolás Maduro was overthrown by US commandos in less than three hours, following years of the Venezuelan dictator's resistance to mounting US pressure.
After the US disabled Venezuela's air defenses, more than 150 US planes flew into the nation, and an Army Delta Force unit was sent to the military base where Maduro was spending the night.
Before the couple could reach a safe place, they blasted through the steel doors and seized him and his wife. They then took them on a helicopter to a battleship that was headed to New York for trial.
President Donald Trump stated on Saturday that "he was trying to get to a safe place." The door was massive and quite thick. However, he couldn't reach that door.
He reached the door, but he couldn't shut it. Even as rumors of explosions in Caracas surfaced, Trump remained silent in public and only announced the capture on social media after the chopper carrying Maduro was safe. He claimed to be following the events in real-time on live streams.
The lightning operation, which bears risk, was the result of years of Trump's efforts to remove Maduro, starting in his first term. Although there are still many unresolved concerns about what Trump, who opposed foreign operations when he took office, intends to do with a nation he intends to "run," US officials stated that the military action was swift and appeared to be decisive, which is what the president wants.
Residents of Caracas reported hearing explosions and hearing jets roaring overhead, which was the first indication that Trump had carried out the plan.
Shortly after two in the morning on Saturday, video footage shows missiles hitting targets in the city and a helicopter firing rockets and flashes in the night sky.
Witnesses said that power was disconnected in multiple locations. In Fuerte Tiuna, close to the La Carlota airbase and the Armed Forces Ministry, there was smoke and flames.
The special operations groups who apprehended Maduro had been in place since early December, waiting for a chance to arrest him that would limit injury to civilians and maximize the element of surprise, even though the US had been gathering military forces in the Caribbean since the summer.
According to a person familiar with the operation, Trump collaborated on the preparations with a limited group of people, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pentagon head Pete Hegseth, Deputy head of Staff Stephen Miller, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
The insider claimed that since August, a small team from the Central Intelligence Agency has been covertly stationed in the South American country, providing intelligence on Maduro's lifestyle.
According to the New York Times, the agency officials used a source inside the Venezuelan government to track Maduro's whereabouts in the days preceding his abduction and to keep an eye on his movements using stealth drones. Additionally, the US had put up a $50 million prize for information that would help apprehend Maduro.
Drones in the air tracked both his and his army' movements. General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, claimed that the United States monitored every aspect of his life, including his food and attire.
At a replica of his safe house, the Delta Force commandos practiced the raid. After postponing due to inclement weather, they waited for the ideal circumstances for the weeks leading up to Christmas and New Year's.
According to Caine, "the weather broke just enough, clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could maneuver through, ocean, mountain, low cloud ceilings."
B-1 bombers, F-22, F-18, E/A-18, and F-35 fighter jets, E-2 surveillance planes, rotary aircraft, and "numerous remotely piloted drones" were among the aircraft that the US launched from 20 different bases on land and at sea throughout the Western Hemisphere, according to Caine.
The Cuartel de la Montana in Caracas, which holds the burial of Hugo Chavez, Maduro's predecessor and mentor, was one of the locations that the US targeted.
Additionally, there were reports of explosions and fires in the nearby security force complex and the port of La Guaira. Helicopters flying extremely low and firing within the military base Fuerte Tiuna were captured on camera by inhabitants in their residences and by cars on Caracas' abandoned main highway.
About two hours after Trump issued the directive, the US force reached Maduro's Caracas compound. According to Caine, one plane was shot at. However, it continued to be flyable and made it back to base with the others.
Maduro and his spouse were transported to the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship that had deployed to the area in August as part of a joint Navy and Marine Corps crisis response force, by the US force, which crossed the water in roughly two and a half hours.
Just minutes before he started his Saturday morning press conference, Trump shared a picture of Maduro next to a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, wearing a Nike sweatsuit, a blindfold, and what appeared to be shackled hands.
Maduro's removal might only be the start. The United States is "not afraid of boots on the ground," according to Trump on Saturday.
He claimed that if Maduro's successor doesn't cooperate, the US has a plan for a far bigger strike and is prepared to launch another mission of a similar nature.
