January 3, 2026, Nicolas Maduro was announced to be captured by U.S. Delta Forces in Caracas. His being sent to the United States of America has had a large impact on the citizens of Venezuela. This raid involved special forces, navy, and aerial support. If you don’t know who Maduro is, he is a former President of Venezuela- and involved in drug trafficking, violating human rights, and is the primary reason for Venezuela’s economic collapse. To understand how the army was able to perform a coordinated attack, we will go through a step by step description of the raid, how each branch of the military was involved, and the world’s public opinion on the event.

Days before the abduction of Nicolas Maduro, the CIA gave intel on Maduro’s locations. General Dan Caine was in charge of training U.S. forces to practice, “Operation Absolute Resolve,” through replica buildings of buildings in Caracas. Later at 3:46 GMT on the Saturday, Trump gave an approval of the operation. The U.S. Forces shutdown Venezuela’s air defense system allowing a total of 150 U.S. aircrafts, taking part in this operation, to enter Venezuela’s airspace. The military also had the U.S. Navy surrounding the coast of Venezuela, as bases for aircrafts such as F-35 fighters jets. They enabled the American Delta Forces to extract Nicolas and were in charge of interrupting Venezuela’s power and communication systems. U.S. helicopters hovered over buildings, allowing the Delta Force to land on buildings. At around 6:01 GMT, Nicolas and his wife were captured and extracted onto a U.S. aircraft carrier. They were then routed to Federal detention in New York.

After the reveal of the abduction of Maduro, many citizens of Venezuela reacted in relief and celebrated, glad that they don’t have to be under Maduro’s reign. Maduro’s opposition hopes for the government to become a democracy, with María Corina Machado taking control. However, there are many others that believe that the Trump’s motives were for oil and greater control in Latin America. Many also criticized the idea of the operation while others are in fear for the future of the country’s sovereignty and an increase of political violence. The world is watching how things unfold over the next few months with Trump allowing Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s number two to hold power for now.