Under 30 minutes, 55 soldiers dead: who runs Venezuela after Maduro's capture?
At 10:46 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, 2 January 2026, President Donald Trump gave the order. US forces had been waiting about four days for cloud cover over Venezuela to clear. "We waited four days," Trump said afterwards, according to AP's reconstruction, published by PBS NewsHour.
At about 1:01 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday, 3 January, US forces reached Nicolás Maduro's compound in Caracas. By 3:29 a.m. they were back over water, carrying Venezuela's president and his wife, Cilia Flores. The attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes.
The questions the raid raised went far beyond the operation itself: who governs Venezuela now, on whose terms, and at what human cost.
How was the operation carried out?
General Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the operation, named "Absolute Resolve", involved more than 150 aircraft launched from across the Western Hemisphere, including F-18, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, B-1 bombers and drones. Helicopters flew low over the water into Venezuela, AP reported.
Caine said the forces had rehearsed for months, including on a replica building, and were ready by early December. At least seven explosions were heard in Caracas. One US helicopter was hit by fire as it neared the compound but returned safely.
Trump said Maduro had been "highly guarded" and nearly reached a safe room he could not close. He posted a photo of the blindfolded Venezuelan leader with the caption "Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima."
The raid capped months of escalation. Since early September the US military had struck alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific; AP counted 35 known strikes that killed at least 115 people. On 29 December a CIA drone struck a docking area believed to be used by drug cartels, the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil.
How many people died?
Trump said a few US personnel were injured and that he believed no one was killed: "A couple of guys were hit, but they came back and they're supposed to be in pretty good shape."
On the Venezuelan side, the toll came from Caracas and Havana. On 6 January, AFP reported that 55 military and security personnel had died: Venezuela's military confirmed 23 of its service members killed, and Cuba said 32 members of its armed forces and interior ministry assigned in Caracas had died, aged 26 to 67, among them two colonels and a lieutenant colonel. Venezuela's defence minister, Vladimir Padrino López, said many of the dead Cubans were likely part of Maduro's security detail, which he said had been largely wiped out.
Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez said civilians had also been killed. As of AFP's report, Venezuela had published no official civilian toll.
What happened to Maduro?
Maduro and Flores were flown to New York. The US Justice Department released an indictment accusing them of a role in a narco-terrorism conspiracy. On Monday, 5 January, they appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking and other charges, AFP reported. Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, called on the United States to ensure Maduro receives a "fair trial".
Who is in charge in Caracas?
Hours after the court appearance, Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president. Trump had said the US would "run" Venezuela until a new leader could be chosen, adding: "We're not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to."
According to AFP, Trump said he would work with Rodríguez if she met his demands, including access for US companies to Venezuela's oil reserves, and warned that otherwise she would pay "a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro". She kept the cabinet unchanged, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Padrino López, both widely seen as holding real power. Fourteen journalists were detained while covering her inauguration; all were later released.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado, whom Washington had given no role in the transition, said Rodríguez could not be trusted. Venezuela's constitution requires elections within 30 days of a president being formally declared absent, AFP noted.
Are political prisoners being freed?
On 14 January Rodríguez said releases of prisoners held under Maduro would continue, calling it "a new political moment", AP reported. She said her government had released 406 detainees but offered no evidence. The prisoner rights group Foro Penal had verified at least 68 releases and estimated that more than 800 people were still held on political grounds. The White House claimed the releases resulted from US pressure; Rodríguez disputed that.
What we do not know
- How many civilians were killed. No official civilian toll had been published in the reports we reviewed.
- How many political prisoners have actually been freed: the government's figure and Foro Penal's verified count differ widely.
- When, or whether, the elections required by the constitution will be held.
What to watch
Maduro's trial in New York, the pace of verified prisoner releases, and whether Washington's demand for oil access shapes Venezuela's transition more than its own constitution will show what the night of 3 January really changed.
Sources
Related articles
Comments (0)
Sign in to join the discussion.
- No comments yet — be the first.