Donald Trump has issued a flurry of bombshells that have stunned millions across the globe following the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The firebrand president said the US would now “run” Venezuela following Maduro’s swift removal in a special military operation in Caracas.
Trump’s news conference in Mar-a-Lago resembled something of a victory lap where he claimed the US would have significant involvement in the running of the country for an unspecified amount of time.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump told reporters.
The statement was just one of numerous bombshells the president unleashed during the press conference.
General Caine announced the military operation took “months” of intelligence work that uncovered numerous details about Maduro. He said this included learning where he lived and what he ate.
The “extraction” resulted in some 15- aircraft being used as well as soldiers, sailors and marines “working in unison” with agencies and law enforcement in the US.
General Dan Caine said US troops used the “element of surprise” when carrying out the operation. Troops dismantled and disabled the country’s air defence systems during the operation en route to Maduro’s compound.
He said helicopters “came under fire” and that they responded with “overwhelming force.” He claimed that Maduro and his wife “gave up” before being taken into custody.
Trump’s stunned listeners across the world when he announced the US is “going to run Venezuela.”
Speaking to reporters in Florida, he said: “We don’t want to be involved with having someone else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. So we are going to run the country.”
His declaration will sound eerily familiar to those old enough to remember the Iraq War where critics slammed US involvement overseas. The initial operation was swift, resulting in the toppling of Saddam Hussein, but soon devolved into a lengthy insurgency.
The US President did not offer a timeline for how long the country would be involved in the South American nation amid a transition.
Trump said US officials would assist in the running of Venezuela, indicating Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth would work alongside others to steer the country during the transition.
Trump said the US would be “very strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry following the military operation that ousted Maduro from power. In a move that appeared straight out of the America of the 2000s, Trump announced US oil companies would rebuild Venezuela’s infrastructure and to extract resources from the country.
“We’re gonna be very strongly involved in it,” Trump said of involvement in Venezuela’s oil industry. “That’s all. What can I say? We have the greatest oil companies in the world – the biggest, the greatest, and we’re going to be very much involved in it.”
President Trump said a “group of people” would assist in taking over the governance of Venezuela amid a transition. But when pressed on who would be involved, Trump said it would involve Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s Vice President.
Trump said Rodriuguez had been keen to do “whatever the US asks.” It is a stunning development as she was among Maduro’s closest allies.
The move will prove controversial after he branded Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as lacking support. He further humiliated Machado by claiming she lacked “respect” to lead despite having been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democratic rights in Venezuela.
Members of Trump’s administration made it clear that other dictators and leaders in Latin America were on notice following the capture of Maduro. During the press conference Rubio appeared to issue a warning to leaders in Communist Cuba.
He said: “When the president (Trump) speaks, you should take him seriously.” He then noted many of the guards protecting Maduro were Cubans.
“If I lived in Havana and I was in the government I’d be concerned at least,” he added.
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Trump was pressed if American soldiers would be deployed to Venezuela as part of the transition. He said: “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground.”
He added the US operation involved “boots on the ground last night at a very high level.” Trump continued: “We’re going to make sure that country is run properly.
How did we get here?
Since Trump took office for his second term, he has put Maduro squarely in his sights, pursuing a maximum pressure campaign against the Venezuelan regime. He accused Maduro of being behind destabilising activity in the Americas, including drug trafficking and illegal immigration to the US. In July, the US announced a $50m (£37m) bounty on Maduro’s head, accusing him of being one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.
Trump’s administration declared Venezuelan gangs such as Tren de Aragua as terrorist organisations and began carrying out airstrikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea. Soon, the US began to seize Venezuelan tankers and build up its military presence in the waters surrounding the South American country.
Trump has openly flirted with the idea of regime change in Venezuela. In late November, Trump gave Maduro an ultimatum to relinquish power, offering him safe passage out of the country. Maduro refused the offer, telling supporters in Venezuela that he did not want “a slave’s peace” and accusing the US of wanting control of his country’s oil reserves.
As the Trump administration ratcheted up the pressure, the government in Caracas at times seemed bewildered. Maduro repeatedly said Venezuela did not want war with the US, at one point dancing in front of Venezuelan students to the lyrics “no war, yes peace” and mimicking Trump’s double-fist pumping dance move.
Trump was reportedly not amused, and the dancing is said to have contributed to the decision to remove him from power. On Thursday, two days before his capture, Maduro said in a televised interview he would welcome US investment in the country’s oil sector.
A newly unsealed US justice department indictment accuses Maduro of running a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fuelled by an extensive drug trafficking operation that flooded the US with thousands of tonnes of cocaine.
Why are the US and Venezuela at odds?
Relations between the US and Venezuela have been strained since Hugo Chávez became Venezuela’s president in 1999. A self-professed socialist and anti-imperialist, Chávez angered the US in his opposition to its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as his alliances with countries such as Cuba and Iran. Relations further spiralled after Chávez accused the US of backing a 2002 coup attempt.
To many in the US, particularly in the more hawkish wing of the Republican party, the socialist ideological orientation of Venezuela’s government has made it a natural adversary of the US, alongside its ally Cuba.
As Chávez consolidated power, punished political opponents and expropriated much of the country’s private sector, the US condemned Venezuela for its poor human rights record. Despite occasional minor thaws in relations between the two countries over the years, the relationship has continued to deteriorate, especially after Maduro took power in 2013.
Under the Trump administration, the US has portrayed the Maduro government as illegitimate, recognising Juan Guaidó, the speaker of the parliament, as Venezuela’s president in 2019.
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In July 2024, Maduro appeared to suffer a landslide defeat in the presidential election, amid widespread anger at his increasingly authoritarian rule and Venezuela’s economic collapse. The Biden administration recognised the opposition candidate Edmundo González as the victor. Detailed voting data released by the opposition and verified by independent experts indicated that González won the vote, but Maduro clung to power after launching a ferocious crackdown.
In early December, the Trump administration published what it called the “Trump corollary”, which said the western hemisphere must be controlled by the US politically, economically, commercially and militarily. As part of the new Trump doctrine, the US military can be used to gain access to energy and mineral resources in the area.
During a press conference hours after the capture of Maduro, Trump invoked the 19th-century Monroe doctrine, which was used to assert US military power in Latin America. Dubbing it the “Don-Roe doctrine”, he said: “American dominance in the western hemisphere will never be questioned again.”
Who is Nicolás Maduro and why did Trump capture him?
Maduro has been the president of Venezuela since 2013. The former bus driver rose to prominence under Chávez, working as his minister of foreign affairs, before becoming the country’s president after Chávez’s death.
Maduro’s rule is considered dictatorial, with the UN estimating in 2019 that more than 20,000 Venezuelans were killed in extrajudicial executions. Key institutions such as the judiciary have been eroded under Maduro and the rule of law has deteriorated.
Over recent months, Trump has repeatedly called for the ousting of Maduro, accusing him of sending drugs and criminals into the US – a claim experts have said lacks evidence. He also claimed that Maduro was stealing US oil.
Despite months of escalating rhetoric, Saturday’s capture of the sitting president arrived without warning and Venezuelan authorities seemed to have been caught off guard by the brazen operation.
At least 40 people, including civilians and soldiers, were killed in Saturday’s attack, the New York Times reported, citing a senior Venezuelan official.
The future is uncertain. Venezuela’s defence minister has vowed to fight on and has called on citizens to unite to resist the foreign “invasion”, calling resistance to the US a “fight for freedom”.
Though Maduro has been captured, Venezuela’s institutions and military appear to be intact. It is unclear if Saturday’s attack on Venezuela was the beginning of a wider conflict or a one-off operation, as Trump said the US retained the right to mount further military operations in the country.
What is clear is that the US is determined to play a large role in Venezuela, through the use of military force or otherwise. Trump said on Saturday that the US would be making decisions on what was next for Venezuela. “We can’t take a chance in letting somebody else run and just take over what he left, or left off,” Trump said.
It was unclear what exactly Trump meant when he said the US would run Venezuela, as there were no signs that the US had taken over the capital and Venezuelan soldiers remained at their posts at military bases across the country. Trump did not rule out US military boots on the ground but said Venezuelan officials were agreeable to his demands – a sharp contrast to the defiant statements of officials in the hours after Maduro’s capture.
The US has in the past carried out war games to simulate a scenario where Venezuelan leadership was “decapitated”. The simulations predicted prolonged chaos, with refugees pouring out of Venezuela and rival groups fighting one another for control of the country.
“You’d have prolonged chaos … with no clear way out,” said Douglas Farah, a Latin America expert who helped run the war games.
Colombia has mobilised its armed forces and expressed concerns about a potential influx of refugees.
Source: Daily Mirror:
