President Donald Trump said Saturday that US forces had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro after launching a “large scale strike” on the South American country. “The United States of America has successfully carried out 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,” Trump said on Truth Social. “A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people,” the paper quoted Trump as saying. Trump’s stunning announcement follows months of steadily mounting US military and economic pressure on leftist leader Maduro and his country’s oil-export-dependent economy. Trump told reporters on Monday that the United States had hit and destroyed a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats, in what was the first known strike on Venezuelan soil of the campaign.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 03, 2026 12:00 UTC