What Happened to President Maduro and His Wife?
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Caracas, Jan 3 (NationPress) - On Saturday, the Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, stated that the location of President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, remains uncertain following a series of US attacks in Caracas, Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira in the early morning hours, local time.
The leading Venezuelan newspaper, El Nacional, reported that Rodríguez, during a phone interview with Venezolana de Televisión, called for the US government to provide proof of life for both Maduro and Flores.
Rodríguez urged the citizens to engage in a civic-military alliance to protect the nation, as reported by the newspaper.
According to sources cited by Fox News, the nighttime US military operation involved a significant deployment of Chinook helicopters and other special forces equipment.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump alleged that the Venezuelan President and his wife had been “captured” and “flown out” of the country.
On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump stated, “The United States has successfully executed a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country.”
He noted that this operation was conducted in collaboration with US law enforcement and promised to share more details during a news conference at 11 a.m. (local time) at Mar-a-Lago.
Several loud explosions were reported in the early hours of Saturday in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
American media outlets reported that Maduro was apprehended by a unit of the elite Delta Force of the US Army.
“Sources from the administration indicated that Trump authorized the military strikes a few days prior, following several months of increased US military presence near the Venezuelan coast and calls from the White House for Maduro to resign,” noted El Nacional.