Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been taken into custody by US special forces following American military operations in the country, according to multiple media reports citing unnamed US officials.
CBS News reported that members of Delta Force, one of the US military’s most elite special operations units, were involved in detaining Maduro.
The unit has previously carried out some of Washington’s most high-profile missions, including the 2019 operation that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The Reuters news agency also cited a US official as confirming that American special forces were responsible for Maduro’s capture, though it did not identify the specific unit involved.
US President Donald Trump later publicly confirmed that Washington had launched what he described as a “large-scale” operation against Venezuela. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been “captured and flown out of the country.”
“This operation was done in conjunction with US law enforcement,” Trump wrote, adding that further details would be released during a press conference scheduled for later Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
International reaction to the operation was swift. Iran condemned what it called an “American attack” on Venezuela, with its Foreign Ministry describing the action as a blatant violation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Tehran’s response came amid heightened regional tensions and ongoing unrest inside Iran itself.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Bogotá issued an urgent advisory to American citizens, warning against all travel to Venezuela and urging those already in the country to “shelter in place.”
The embassy said it was aware of reports of explosions and advised US nationals to secure multiple channels of communication with contacts outside Venezuela. The country remains under the US government’s highest travel warning, Level 4.
Venezuelan authorities have not issued an official statement confirming or denying the reports surrounding Maduro’s detention. The situation remains fluid as diplomatic fallout and security concerns continue to unfold across the region.
