MxM News

President Trump stunned the world early Saturday with a dramatic announcement saying Venezuela’s socialist strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured and removed from the country following U.S. military action that rocked Caracas overnight. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States “successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader,” adding that Maduro and Flores were “captured and flown out of the country” in an operation conducted alongside U.S. law enforcement.

The announcement came just hours after multiple explosions were reported across Caracas and other parts of the country, with witnesses describing airstrikes and widespread power outages. Trump’s statement was quickly amplified by senior administration officials, including Pete Hegseth and Karoline Leavitt, who shared the message on X as speculation swirled about the scope and targets of the operation.

Maduro, who has clung to power through what critics and international observers have long described as rigged elections, has been a top target of U.S. law enforcement for years. Washington has accused him of running—or at minimum directing—the Cartel of the Suns, an international cocaine trafficking network allegedly embedded within Venezuela’s regime. In 2020, U.S. prosecutors charged Maduro with narco-terrorism, accusing him and senior officials of conspiring to “flood” the United States with cocaine. A $50 million U.S. reward remains in place for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

Venezuela’s government had not formally responded to Trump’s claim as of early Saturday, but local reporting painted a picture of chaos and uncertainty on the ground. The Venezuelan daily El Nacional reported that large portions of Caracas were without electricity, with residents evacuating areas around Fuerte Tiuna, the country’s main military complex long believed to house Maduro’s personal bunker. The outlet also said La Carlota, Venezuela’s principal military airport, was struck during the overnight bombardment.

Shortly before Trump’s announcement, Venezuela’s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López, addressed the nation in a video posted to Instagram, denouncing the strikes as an “invasion” and “the greatest outrage suffered by Venezuela.” Padrino López, who is himself wanted by U.S. authorities on drug trafficking charges, dismissed the narco-terrorism allegations and claimed the attacks were part of a U.S.-led regime-change effort. “Desperation is the invader’s ally,” he said, urging Venezuelans to avoid “chaos and anarchy” and calling on the international community to condemn the United States.

Trump said further details on the operation, including how Maduro was taken into custody and where he was flown, would be released later in the day during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, setting the stage for what could be one of the most consequential developments in U.S.–Venezuela relations in decades.

(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

MxM News

Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro is striking a suddenly conciliatory tone toward Washington after a reported CIA drone strike targeted a cartel-linked docking area inside his country, claiming Caracas is now “ready” to negotiate with the United States on drug trafficking — and even dangling access to Venezuela’s oil sector as leverage.

In a sit-down interview recorded on New Year’s Eve with Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet and aired Thursday on state television, Maduro said the U.S. government has long known Venezuela is open to talks, insisting that if Washington wants a note-for-note agreement to combat narcotics flows, “we’re ready.”

He went further, suggesting that American energy firms could return in force, saying Venezuela is open to U.S. oil investment “whenever they want it, wherever they want it and however they want it,” explicitly referencing past dealings with Chevron.

Venezuelan President Maduro:

If the United States wants to seriously talk about an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we are ready. pic.twitter.com/3cWMyDxuC8

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 2, 2026

The remarks come amid an aggressive U.S. pressure campaign that has seen at least 35 American strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September, operations U.S. officials say have killed more than 115 suspected traffickers.

Those actions are widely viewed as part of a broader effort to choke off cartel pipelines tied to the Maduro regime and destabilize a government Washington has long accused of functioning as a narco-state.

Last week’s strike — the first publicly acknowledged U.S. operation on Venezuelan soil since the maritime campaign began — was revealed by President Trump himself in a Dec. 26 radio interview, marking a sharp escalation.

Maduro refused to address the strike directly during the interview, saying only that he could “talk about it in a few days,” a silence that stood in contrast to his sudden eagerness to negotiate.

U.S. officials have been far less ambiguous. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in December that the current relationship with Caracas is “intolerable,” accusing the regime of actively partnering with terrorist organizations and criminal networks that threaten U.S. national interests.

Maduro, who is under U.S. indictment on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering, and corruption, is now signaling flexibility just as American pressure tightens — a familiar pattern for a regime that has often talked cooperation when cornered, only to revert once the heat eases.

Whether Washington sees this latest outreach as a genuine shift or another tactical feint remains an open question, but the timing suggests the message was less about diplomacy than survival.