On January 3nd, 2026, President Trump had delta force and FBI operatives captured Venezuela president Nicolas maduro. Maduro is now facing federal charges for drug and weapon offenses; he is now in federal custody in New York where he is awaiting trial.  The raid began on the 2nd of January around three in the morning when US fighter aircraft launch ground strikes on critical infrastructure in the Caracas region. Multiple targets were struck including the airport multiple military bases as well as the tomb of Hugo Chávez.  

To say Venezuelan response was poor would be an understatement. The Venezuelans response to the us attack was uncoordinated and disorganized with large amount of the army not putting up any resistance at all. Venezuela didn’t scramble any of its fighter aircraft to oppose the us strike, additionally much of Venezuela’s Air defense including its sophisticated S-300vm were either not active or operational during the US strikes. Venezuelan material losses were light apart from its Buk-M2E fleet. Out of the approximately 12 systems received by Venezuela three Launch vehicles have been destroyed along with three launch and load vehicles and most importantly two 9S510E Command posts. Half of this equipment that was destroyed inactive and was being stored in a hanger, according to Defense UA. Venezuela had received 2 Buk-M2E divisions from Russia. One Buk-M2E division consists of six launchers, three-six launch and load vehicles with a command post. A division also has a Kupol radar and 9S36 radar. Venezuela’s loss of both of its Buk-M2E Command posts is a death blow to Venezuela’s Buk-M2E fleet. The loss of the command post makes information transfer between the radars and the launchers much more difficult. This results in the battle management of the systems being much harder. On a high note, for Venezuela none of the Buk-M2E radars were lost. The S-300vm was nowhere to been seen during the operations with it radars supposedly being turned off and not connected to Venezuela’s early warning radars as of right now no S-300vm components have been confirmed destroyed suggesting that fact that Venezuela most potent air defense weapons didn’t even attempt to oppose us air operations.  Other material losses include a few gun boats, trucks, and oil tankers. A terminal building as well as a few hangers have been damaged by the strike.  

Maduro was captured by delta force FBI and CIA On the 3rd of January. Maduro’s location was determined by CIA teams inserted into Venezuela per the NBC. The raid opened with airstrikes by over 150 aircraft to suppress enemy air defense and knock out long range radars. This was followed by airstrikes on strategic sites in Venezuela such as the port of La Guardia. From here, U.S special forces operators in helicopters flew to the compound housing Maduro once there the U.S troops captured maduro in bed while he was attempting to enter a panic room in the compound. Once Maduro was captured and loaded onto a helicopter, him and his wife were taken to the USS Iwo Jima then to New York. Maduro is currently being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York. 

Maduro’s first appearance in court was on January 6th, 2026, where Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty to Narcos terrorism charges drug trafficking charges as well as weapons charges. Maduro was charged with these offenses on March 26th, 2020.  Maduro who protested his innocence stated that he was Kidnapped and still is the legitimate president of Venezuela per Al Jazeera. Reactions to the capture of Maduro have been mixed with Multiple states in the central/south America region expressing their dissatisfaction with the intervention in a joint statement between Mexico Chile Brazil Colombia Spain and Uruguay they stated “We express our deep concern and rejection of the military actions carried out unilaterally in the territory of Venezuela, which contravene fundamental principles of international law.” Per Reuters. Russia Iran and China also condemned the intervention. Both Argentina and Isreal have made public statements in support of the United sates. With the Argentine president saying that “That’s why I’d say that today’s news is excellent news for the free world.”. On the individual level the intervention has been equally controversial Many Venezuelans ex-pats took to the streets to celebrate Maduros overthrow with many seeing the intervention as a path towards freedom in Venezuela. Many other Americans however are disapproving of the strikes with protests happening all over the country in cities such as Philadelphia and New York. In an interview with Brady Dilworth a student here at CMW he Stated that “our country should stay out of foreign affairs that are not our problem” and that the strikes were “clearly just for oil”.  

While Maduro has been captured the story for Venezuela isn’t finished. How much the U.S gets involved in running Venezuela and whether Maduros removal is path towards freedom for Venezuela is still up in the air.  

https://www.csis.org/analysis/imagery-venezuela-shows-surgical-strike-not-shock-and-awe 

https://united24media.com/latest-news/two-more-russian-buk-m2e-missile-systems-found-wrecked-in-venezuela-weeks-after-us-strike-14956 

https://en.defence-ua.com/news/russian_bukm2e_air_defense_mission_in_venezuela_ends_in_failure_how_many_systems_remain-17112.html 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/1/5/live-venezuelas-maduro-to-appear-in-court-trump-threatens-more-strikes 

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/world-reacts-us-strikes-venezuela-2026-01-03/