The operation itself does not take much longer than a few hours, but the sensational American kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro is preceded by months of preparation. As early as August of last year, the fate of the Venezuelan president was decided when a team of CIA intelligence officers secretly entered the country for an extremely dangerous espionage mission.
The aim of the daring intelligence operation: to collect all possible information about the daily lives of Maduro and those close to him, so that he can ultimately be taken from his bed three days into the new year during Operation Absolute Resolve.
The preparations go far, as appears from statements by President Trump and American General Dan Caine, the highest army chief and himself a former top executive of the CIA, and from reconstructions that include: The New York Times and the news agencies Reuters and Associated Press based on anonymous testimony from U.S. intelligence and defense officials.
A ‘mole’ in Maduro’s house
The Americans deployed ‘invisible’ drones high above Caracas to record relevant routes and movements from the air. The most striking thing about the mission is that the CIA team managed to secure the services of a human source, a ‘mole’ in Maduro’s entourage who provides the Americans with the missing details about his daily routines. Washington knows what Maduro eats, where he goes, what clothes he wears and even what pets he surrounds himself with, General Caine said on Saturday evening. a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s Florida resort.
According to the Reuters reconstruction, this source in Maduro’s immediate vicinity was ready to provide the exact location of the Venezuelan president at the time of the operation, early on Saturday morning. This direct information is crucial: from long-term observations, the Americans have learned that Maduro has between six and eight homes and often changes locations for security reasons.
Washington knows what Maduro eats, where he goes, what clothes he wears and even what pets he surrounds himself with
The Americans must therefore be sure of the exact location at the time of their attack. This also appears to have been extensively prepared. When the first explosions disturb the night-time silence of Caracas around 1:50 am local time, the CIA and commandos from the counter-terrorist force Delta Force have already completed hundreds of hours of training.
At a defense site in Kentucky, Joint Special Operations Command employees are building a near-exact replica of Maduro’s compound in Caracas so that elite US units can practice the kidnapping operation – and especially the penetration of the secure building – in great detail.
Risky operation
The risky operation on enemy territory – the United States has no embassy in Venezuela for CIA employees to hide behind – is in several ways reminiscent of Operation Neptune Spear in 2011, when a team of US Navy Seals in the middle of Pakistan apparently out of nowhere attacked the house where Osama bin Laden was hiding. The wanted Al Qaeda leader, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, was killed during that operation.
But the lightning attack on Venezuela is in many ways significantly riskier: it involves the kidnapping of the head of state of a country that has been aware for months of an unprecedented American troop build-up off its coast: an armada of warships, hundreds of fighter planes, an aircraft carrier, helicopters, amphibious assault ships and at least fifteen thousand soldiers.
A National Guard member stands guard at an entrance to Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, in Caracas on January 3, 2026, after US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Photo by Federico Parra AFP
Moreover, President Trump repeatedly and extensively warned his Venezuelan counterpart in the last months of 2025 that Washington is looking for his departure. The American operation cannot therefore be a total surprise for Maduro, his security, or the government Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivarianathe Venezuelan Armed Forces.
Nevertheless, Maduro appears to have been completely blindsided by the nighttime landing at his compound. According to anonymous Defense sources in various American media, Trump had already authorized the attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, four days earlier, at the close of New Year’s Eve. But through the intercession of the intelligence service and military planners, better weather conditions are expected over Caracas, especially skies with less cloud cover.
One hundred and fifty planes
That situation unfolds early Saturday morning. While Trump and his closest advisors watch via livestream from Mar-a-Lago, the American forces open their attack on Venezuela. This will start on Friday night, local time, when, according to General Caine, part of the total of more than one hundred and fifty deployed war planes, including F-35 fighter planes and B-1 bombers, will take off from twenty air bases spread across the Western Hemisphere, for preliminary bombardments, diversionary maneuvers and the operation against Maduro himself.
Tanker planes circle above the Caribbean Sea, spy drones and military aircraft specialized in electronics maneuver in the airspace. jamming of enemy weapon systems. Trump himself told Fox News afterwards – triumphantly: “We had a fighter plane for every possible situation.”
The first attacks hit radar and anti-aircraft systems, including at the Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda air base near Caracas, better known as La Carlota, and the Fuerte Tiuna military complex. Just north of the city, military installations around the port of La Guaira are being bombarded. Venezuelan authorities also reported attacks on the Cerro El Volcán telecommunications tower, Higuerote airport in Miranda state and El Libertador air base in the city of Maracay. Residents of Caracas report seven major explosions within half an hour. The power goes out in various places in the city.
A convoy of helicopters
When the ‘eyes and ears’ of the outdated Venezuelan armed forces have been largely disabled, American helicopters fly low above Caracas towards Maduro’s compound, under the cover of fighter planes. images are shared on social media. The aircraft are shot at, sources later told Reuters, and one is even hit, but can continue flying.
Once they arrive at the Venezuelan president’s ‘safe house’, the American commandos break in, armed with machine guns and heavy cutting torches. According to Trump, they break open the “steel doors within seconds.”
General Caine says half a day later that the Maduros surrendered in the confrontation with the American invaders. Shortly afterwards, Maduro and his wife are taken to one of the waiting helicopters and taken away as quickly as possible towards the Caribbean coast of Venezuela.
During their withdrawal, the American aircraft became involved in several confrontations with Venezuelan air defenses, General Caine said afterwards, with the invaders firing shots “in self-defense.”
Outdated armed forces
All told, Operation Absolute Resolve will be over in a few hours. The Venezuelan armed forces, which traditionally rely heavily on outdated and often poorly maintained Russian war equipment, are no match for the world’s most modern armed forces. The operation was carried out with surgical precision, President Trump and the military staff informed the world later on Saturday. “I’ve done some pretty good things, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Trump said.
Destruction following an attack on the Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda air base in Caracas, Venezuela. US President Trump announced that US forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a series of large-scale attacks on Caracas on January 3, 2026.
Photo MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/EPA
The Americans do not emerge from the battle completely unscathed. Trump mentions some injuries, but gives no details. At least forty people are killed on the Venezuelan side reportedbut further information is also lacking.
The targets of the nighttime operation, President Maduro and his wife, have already been on their way to the US for a long time. Maduro is delivered by helicopter to an American warship off the coast, the USS Iwo Jima. That immediately sets a course north, in the direction of New York.
A few hours later, Trump posts Truth Social on his own platform a photo of the kidnapped Venezuelan president in flip-flops, a gray sweatsuit – and with handcuffs, headphones and blindfold – with the text: ‘Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima.’
On Saturday evening, Maduro and his wife will be delivered by helicopter to New York, where they will be locked up in a detention center in Brooklyn. They are expected to face a long process before the American judge.
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