"The United States has successfully carried out a large-scale attack on Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who, along with his wife, has been captured and taken out of the country," Trump writes on Truth Social.
The military operation was carried out in cooperation with US law enforcement agencies, according to Trump.
Senator: To be indicted
Maduro, who is accused in the United States of being responsible for drug trafficking, will now be prosecuted, Senator Mike Lee stated on X after a phone call with Senator Marco Rubio.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez says in a statement that it is unclear where Maduro and Flores are.
“We demand to see signs of life,” she says, according to AP.
Trump will hold a press conference at 5 p.m. local time in Sweden.
"Very good planning and a lot of great soldiers and great people. It was actually a brilliant operation," Trump said of the operation in a brief telephone interview with The New York Times.
Several explosions occurred in Venezuela on Saturday night - mainly in the capital Caracas but also in other places in the country.
Taken away by elite force
Trump reportedly ordered the attacks a few days ago, but sources told CBS News that they waited for optimal weather conditions before carrying them out.
Venezuela's presidential couple have reportedly been abducted by the US Army's elite Delta Force, according to information provided to CBS.
According to an earlier statement from the Venezuelan government, a state of emergency has been declared. The US's "serious military aggression" was condemned as a "violation of the UN Charter."
In a later statement, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said that several built-up areas had been hit by American missiles and rockets and that an investigation was underway to determine how many people had been killed and injured.
“The whole ground shook”
The first reports of explosions in Caracas came around 2 a.m. local time (7 a.m. in Sweden).
Reports of explosions, fires and power outages poured in from residents. There were also reports of gunfire.
Smoke was seen rising at La Carlota airport, which is used for both regular air traffic and military purposes, as well as at the military headquarters Fort Tiuna.
Airplanes and helicopters flew over the capital.
"The whole ground shook. This is terrible," 21-year-old Carmen Hidalgo told the AP.
Alarms about explosions and gunfire also came from the coastal cities of La Guaira, just north of Caracas, and Higuerote to the east, according to Bloomberg.
Joakim Magnå/TT
Martin Mederyd Hårdh/TT
Facts: Tensions between the US and Venezuela
TT
The attack comes after US President Donald Trump recently raised the possibility of attacking ground targets in Venezuela and deployed a significant naval force in the Caribbean Sea.
Trump also recently stated that a port facility in Venezuela had already been attacked.
US military pressure has also resulted in several deadly attacks on boats allegedly smuggling drugs and the seizure of oil tankers in international waters.
The attacks are considered by a broad body of experts to be extrajudicial executions that have occurred in violation of international law. The US government has justified the attacks at sea by saying that the country is in practice in an armed conflict with powerful drug cartels, which it has subsequently sought to link directly to the Venezuelan government.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said on state television on Friday that he was open to talks with the United States “at any time” about the ongoing crisis between the countries. He has previously accused the United States of wanting to overthrow him in order to access Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
