Maduro ‘captured’ and taken out of Venezuela after US military operation in Caracas: Trump

If confirmed, the operation would be unprecedented in modern history, and mark the first time a head of state has been taken captive by a rival nation in an opening special forces operation.

Officials told CBS that Delta Force, the Army’s most elite unit, was the one that carried out the operation.

The Venezuelan government hasn’t yet acknowledged the alleged abduction of its head of state. It’s unclear who is in charge of the country in Maduro’s absence.

According to Venezuela’s constitution, power should pass to Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez. Rodríguez will face even worse legitimacy issues than Maduro, however, and pressure from the democratic opposition is sure to increase. Venezuela’s opposition holds that the exiled Edmundo Gonzalez is the rightful president of the country.

In a national address, Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez, denounced the U.S. operation as an “invasion” that “represents the most blatant outrage suffered by the country.”

Lopez’s address marked the first public appearance of a Venezuelan official since the operation. He didn’t address the apparent abduction of Maduro.

Trump provided further details of the operation in a brief phone interview with the New York Times.

“A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people,” Trump said. “It was a brilliant operation, actually.”

He said he would address concerns, such as whether he had sought congressional approval and what’s next for Venezuela, at his 11 a.m. news conference at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump began ratcheting up pressure against Maduro shortly after taking office, putting a $50 million bounty on his head. He was charged with widespread corruption, running a narcoterrorist group, and drug trafficking. Trump and his officials had gone so far as to repeatedly publicly threaten his life.

Maduro’s fate in the U.S. is another matter. He may face charges in a U.S. court of law, given the allegations against him. His arrest is guaranteed to draw widespread outrage not just from Maduro’s allies, including Russia, Iran, and China, but from other countries concerned with diplomatic norms as well.

In December, there were reports about a deal that would have Maduro step down, in exchange for him being allowed to live freely in Russia.

Videos of explosions hitting major military and government targets were posted across social media beginning at around 2 a.m. local time on Saturday. Simultaneously, videos showed helicopters of various types hovering over the city. Among these were reported sightings of CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters hovering over the city, apparently, the helicopters containing the special forces that took Maduro captive.

VENEZUELA DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER US OPERATION IN CARACAS

The operation lasted around one hour, with explosions reported from around 2 a.m. local time to 3 a.m. local time. No further strikes have been reported.

The U.S. attempted a similar operation in 1989 to capture Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega as part of Operation Just Cause. U.S. special operations soldiers, including Delta Force, raided several hideouts hoping to capture the drug trafficker, but came up empty-handed. Noriega later had to be coaxed out of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See with heavy metal music, weeks after the invasion.

This is a breaking news story and has been updated.