(Photo: @RapidResponse47/Handout/ Reuters)CARACAS/NEW YORK - Venezuelan President Nicolas ‌Maduro was in a New York detention center on Sunday after President Donald Trump ordered an ​audacious U.S. raid to capture the South American leader and take control of the country and its vast oil reserves. For months, his administration criticized Maduro, 63, over what ‌it called his involvement in shipping drugs to the US. “We demand the immediate release of President Nicolas Maduro and his ‌wife ‍Cilia Flores," Rodriguez said, calling Maduro "the only president of Venezuela." A US occupation "won't cost us a penny" because the United States would be reimbursed from the "money coming out of the ground," Trump said, referring to Venezuela's oil reserves, a subject he returned to repeatedly during Saturday's press conference. Trump also runs the risk of alienating some of his own supporters, who have backed his "America First" agenda and oppose foreign interventions.

Source: Bangkok Post January 04, 2026 13:35 UTC