US Military Launches Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela, Arresting Nicolas Maduro on Narco Terrorism Charges

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

U.S. forces struck at least 13 targets across Caracas during an operation aimed at capturing Venezuela’s leader. Delta Force helicopters were tracked landing near Maduro’s hideout.

Operation Absolute Resolve

In the early hours of Saturday, January 3, drone attacks began against military bases, ports, and airports in several states of the country. The objective was to confuse and destabilize the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) and neutralize anti-aircraft defense systems.

Venezuelan Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino, had previously used publicly available FlightRadar to track U.S. forces in the region. However, the U.S. could simply turn off transponders like they did for all US armed forces last night prior to the capture of Maduro.

Several of the explosions could be seen via social media videos prior to one showing a fleet of US Army helicopters entering the area during a full moon night.

At 1:59 AM, approximately 11 helicopters, including MH-47G Chinooks and MH-60 Black Hawks, entered the airspace of Caracas.

To allow the safe entry of the aircraft, the United States Navy (US Navy) previously executed electronic warfare operations, using EA-18G Growler aircraft equipped with electronic interference pods that blinded the Venezuelan radars and interfered with missile guidance systems. These actions are part of suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) operations.

Subsequently, the elite group of the United States Army, Delta Force, specialized in counterterrorism, entered a bunker known as La Casa de los Pinos, located in the Guaicaipuro urbanization within Fuerte Tiuna, where Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores resided. Both were captured and extracted while attempting to enter a shelter within their residence. FBI and DEA members participated in the operation.

The operation was surgical and successful, with no U.S. casualties beyond minor injuries. 

Multiple deaths and injuries on the ground in Venezuela have been reported in the various areas hit.

According to Trump, the U.S. created an exact replica of Maduro's safe house and practiced how they would enter the strongly fortified residence.

"The CIA had a small team on the ground starting in August who were able to provide insight into Maduro's pattern of life that made grabbing him seamless," according to one source familiar with the matter.

Two other sources told Reuters the intelligence agency also had an asset close to Maduro who would monitor his movements and was poised to pinpoint his exact location as the operation unfolded.

With the pieces in place, Trump approved the operation four days ago, but military and intelligence planners suggested he wait for better weather and less cloud cover.

In the early hours of Saturday, the mission to capture Maduro started. Trump, surrounded by his advisers at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, watched a live stream of the operation.
How the hours-long operation unfolded is based on interviews with four sources familiar with the matter and details Trump himself has revealed.

President Trump, during the official press conference, stated the U.S. would "run" Venezuela "until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition." 

When asked if he had spoken to opposition leader Maria Machado, he replied "no." Trump then added that Machado "doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country" he said was needed to run Venezuela.

Machado was escorted from Venezuela to Oslo recently by U.S. special forces veterans and private contractors to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump stated online that Machado doesn't have the respect to lead Venezuela.

Trump offered few other details about how the United States would oversee Venezuela and for how long, but said its oil industry would “make a lot of money” under U.S. leadership. Part of the team overseeing would be Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense/War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores were transferred to the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) assault ship and will subsequently be taken to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and then eventually onto New York, where they will face charges of drug trafficking, arms trafficking and terrorism in the Southern District Court of New York, in Manhattan.

Attorney General Pam Bondi unsealed a new superseding indictment out of SDNY against Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores, her nephews (who had previously been imprisoned in the US on cocaine trafficking charges and exchanged during a prisoner swap for American oil executives) and Maduro's number two, Diosdado Cabello.

Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York.  Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.

"They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. On behalf of the entire U.S. DOJ, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American People, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers."

The first count of the indictment, lays out Narco Terrorism charges stating that since 1999, Maduro and others partnered with FARC, FARC-EP, ELN, the Sinaloa Cartel, CDN (Los Zetas), Tren de Aragua and others.

Back in 2007, at the direction of Carvajal "Pollo" Barrios, Venezuelan General Cliver Alcala Cordones delivered to FARC leadership four crates of weapons from the Venezuelan Government, which included 20 grenades and two grenade launchers. In or or about June 2023, Alcala Cordones pled guilty in this District to conspiring to provide material support to the FARC, an FTO.

In 2020, Maduro Guerro attended a meeting in Medellin, Colombia, with two representatives of the FARC. During the meeting, Maduro Guerro discussed arrangements to move large quantities of cocaine and weapons through Colombia and into the United States over the course of the next six years, until in or about 2026. Maduro Guerro also discussed paying the FARC with weapons in connection with the cocaine loads. 

Between 2022 and 2024, Diosdado Cabello Rondon, Venezuela's Interior Minister, regularly traveled to clandestine airstrips controlled by the ELN near the Colombia-Venezuela border to ensure the cocaine's continued safe passage in Venezuelan territory. From these airstrips, 17 cocaine loads were dispatched out of Venezuela both on flights approved by Venezuelan military officials and on clandestine flights designed to avoid detection by law enforcement or militaries in South and Central America. 

At the end of 2024, he reportedly received narcotics proceeds from cocaine trafficking, and in 2025, Colombian drug traffickers discussed with an associate of his plans for continued cocaine trafficking through Venezuela.

Also included in the indictment is the alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua/TdA gang. In 2023, Hector Guerrero Flores (no relation to the "Narcosobrinos") had escaped Tocorón prison in Venezuela as 11,000 troops regained control of the complex.

Back in 2019, as TdA's leader, "Niño Guerrero" discussed drug trafficking with an individual he understood to be working with the Venezuelan regime. Over multiple calls, "Niño" offered to provide escort services for drug loads, explaining that he and TdA had control of the coastlines of Venezuela's Aragua State.

Speaking from TdA's base of operations in Tocor6n Prison, he explained that TdA could handle the logistics of every aspect of the drug trade, including the use of storage compartments called "cradles" located on a beach in Aragua State. In doing so, "Niño Guerrero" confirmed TdA's ability to protect at least one ton of cocaine.

Sources DOJ, DD Geo Politics, BBC, Reuters, Illicit Investigations

Categories: Donald Trump, maduro, us military, venezuela