At 10.46pm eastern time on Friday night, Donald Trump ordered the launch of Operation Absolute Resolve. The mission, said Dan Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, was “discreet, precise and conducted during the darkest hours”.
Although it happened quickly, the operation was the culmination of months of planning by the CIA and Department of Defense to find Nicolás Maduro and understand “how he moved, where he lived, where he travelled, what he ate, what he wore, what were his pets”. According to the NYT, there was a CIA source inside the Venezuelan government.
By early December, the military was ready. By Friday night, the weather broke to clear a path for pilots to reach Venezuela over the ocean, through mountains and low cloud ceiling.
More than 150 aircraft, including several kinds of fighter planes, launched in coordination from 20 different bases to get the US Army’s Delta Force into downtown Caracas while maintaining the element of surprise.
The helicopters took off with a force that included law enforcement officers and began the flight to Venezuela at 100ft above the water.
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As they approached Caracas, the joint air component began disabling air defence systems to protect helicopters entering the target area. Delta Force arrived at Maduro’s compound at 1.01am eastern time yesterday morning (2.01am local time). Trump revealed they had built a fortress identical to this hideout to conduct dummy runs. On arrival, the helicopters came under fire but replied with “overwhelming force” in self-defence. One aircraft was hit but stayed airborne.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima on January 3, 2026.
Ground and air intelligence teams provided live information to Delta Force as they moved through the compound. Trump watched the operation in real time from Mar-a-Lago and said the military broke through the doors protecting Maduro “in a matter of seconds”.
Maduro and his wife, who were reportedly sleeping in bed, were taken into custody by the Department of Justice with no loss of US life.
Helicopters were called in to removed the ground force, while fighter and remotely piloted aircraft provided overhead coverage and suppressive fire. There were multiple “self-defence engagements” as the force began to withdraw out of Venezuela. The force was back over the water at 3.29am eastern time with Maduro and his wife on board. The pair were put on the US warship Iwo Jima. Trump later posted a picture of Maduro on the ship, blindfolded.
Photograph by Yuki Iwamura/AP, Donald Trump Truth Social/ Andalou via Getty Images