01/03/2026
US strikes Venezuela and says its leader has been captured and flown out of the country
REGINA GARCIA CANO and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN
Sat, January 3, 2026 at 12:33 AM CST
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday and said its president had been captured and flown out of the country after months of intense pressure on Nicolás Maduro's government — an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by President Donald Trump on social media hours after the attack.
The legal authority for the attack, and whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand, was not immediately clear. The stunning American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York. Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
