Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured by United States special operations forces during a highly coordinated overnight raid in Caracas on Saturday, according to senior U.S. officials.
The operation, carried out shortly after midnight, involved elite Delta Force units acting under direct authorisation from Washington. Mr. Maduro and Ms. Flores were detained at a secure location in the Venezuelan capital and subsequently flown out of the country, U.S. officials said.
President Donald Trump confirmed the capture in a social media post on Saturday, describing the operation as “decisive” and “long overdue.” The White House later acknowledged the mission, marking an unprecedented seizure of a sitting foreign head of state by U.S. forces.
The arrest followed months of escalating pressure on the Maduro government. Since September, the United States has expanded its military presence off Venezuela’s coast, deploying naval strike groups and increasing aerial surveillance. American forces have also intercepted and seized Venezuelan-linked oil tankers and targeted maritime networks accused of large-scale drug trafficking.
According to U.S. officials, Saturday’s operation was supported by extensive air and naval assets. Multiple Apache and Chinook helicopters were used to insert and extract Delta Force teams, while the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group remained positioned offshore. B-52 bombers and F-35 fighter jets were placed on standby during the mission, officials said.
Resistance from Venezuelan security forces was described as limited. A senior U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said government troops encountered during the operation were “poorly coordinated and inadequately equipped” to counter the assault.
The capture comes amid ongoing legal action against Mr. Maduro in the United States. Earlier, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Mr. Maduro and Ms. Flores had been indicted in the Southern District of New York on multiple criminal charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation, and weapons-related offenses.
“Nicolás Maduro used the Venezuelan state as a platform for drug trafficking and terrorism,” Ms. Bondi said in a statement. “These indictments reflect years of investigation and evidence.”
Human rights organisations have previously criticised U.S. maritime and counter-narcotics operations in the region, citing civilian deaths during confrontations at sea. American officials have defended the actions as lawful and necessary to dismantle transnational criminal networks.
The Venezuelan government had not issued an official statement by Sunday evening, and state media offered no immediate explanation for the president’s absence.
International reaction is expected to be swift, with analysts warning that the arrest could dramatically reshape political dynamics across Latin America and escalate already strained relations between Washington and its rivals.
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