US military seizes Maduro in bombing raid on Venezuelan capital
President Donald Trump said Saturday that US special forces seized Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro during a nighttime bombing raid on the capital Caracas and were taking him to face trial in New York.
A months-long standoff ended swiftly and violently in a high-risk operation that Trump touted as an "amazing" success.
US-backed opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, posted on social media: "the hour of freedom has arrived."
She called for the opposition's candidate in the 2024 election, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, to "immediately" assume the presidency.
But the United Nations chief said he was "deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected."
China, a backer of Maduro's hard-left regime, said it "strongly condemns" the US attack, while France warned that a solution for troubled Venezuela cannot "be imposed from outside."
Caracas residents woke to explosions and the whir of military helicopters around 2:00 am (0600 GMT). Airstrikes hit a major military base and an airbase, among other sites, for nearly an hour, AFP journalists said.
The bombing turned out to be only part of a more ambitious plan to topple 63-year-old Maduro and bring him to US soil to face narco-trafficking charges.
A triumphant Trump told Fox News that US troops had snatched Maduro from "a fortress" and that no US personnel were killed, although "a couple of guys were hit."
"I watched it, literally, like I was watching a television show," Trump said, expressing astonishment at "the speed, the violence."
"It was an amazing thing," he said.
Within hours of the operation, Caracas had fallen eerily quiet, with police stationed outside public buildings and a smell of smoke drifting through the streets.
- Maduro to New York -
Trump said Maduro was initially extracted by helicopter and was being held on the Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship that is part of a large US naval presence in the Caribbean. From there, he will be sent to New York.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife will face the "full wrath" of the courts on drugs and terrorism charges.
Maduro -- in power since 2013 after taking over from Hugo Chavez -- long accused Trump of seeking regime change in order to control Venezuela's huge oil reserves.
Trump said the extraordinary snatching of a foreign country's leader was justified because of his claim that Venezuela is responsible for mass death from drugs in the United States.
What happens next in Venezuela remained unclear.
"We're making that decision now. We can't take a chance at letting somebody else run and just take over where he left, left off," Trump told Fox News. "We'll be involved in it very much."
The US and numerous European governments already did not recognize Maduro's legitimacy, saying he stole elections both in 2018 and 2024.
But Trump did not say whether he wanted Machado to take over.
- 'They're bombing!' -
Venezuelans had been bracing for attacks as US forces, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, massed off the coast.
Fort Tiuna, Venezuela's largest military complex, situated in the south of Caracas, and Carlota airbase in the north were among the targets of the strikes.
Francis Pena, a 29-year-old communications professional living in eastern Caracas, told AFP that he was sleeping and his girlfriend said: "They're bombing!"
La Guaira, north of the capital, where Caracas's main airport and port are located, was also struck.
"I felt like (the explosions) lifted me out of bed, and I immediately thought, 'God, the day has come,' and I cried," Maria Eugenia Escobar, a 58-year-old resident of La Guaira, told AFP.
The defense ministry accused the United States of targeting residential areas and announced a "massive deployment" of military resources.
No casualty figures were immediately available.
- Oil, drugs, migrants? -
Trump has given a variety of justifications for the military build-up around Venezuela, at times stressing illegal migration, narcotics trafficking and the country's oil industry, in which US companies have long played a major role.
He had not openly called for regime change -- likely mindful of his nationalist political base's dislike for foreign entanglements.
However, he told Fox News on Saturday that he had spoken with Maduro just last week and told him "You have to give up. You have to surrender."
Several members of Congress quickly questioned the legality of the operation. Trump's key ally Mike Johnson, Republican speaker in the House of Representatives, said it was "decisive and justified."
As part of an escalating pressure campaign, Washington informally closed Venezuela's airspace, imposed more sanctions and ordered the seizure of tankers loaded with Venezuelan oil.
US forces have also carried out numerous strikes on boats in both the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September -- targeting what Washington says are drug smugglers -- that have killed more than 100 people, according to the US military.
Among other international reactions, Iran, Cuba and Colombia's leftist leader Gustavo Petro condemned the attacks, while the EU's top diplomat urged restraint. Spain offered to mediate.
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O.Wagner--MP
