Trump claims US captured Maduro after Caracas blasts : NPR

President Donald Trump claimed in a single day that the USA carried out airstrikes in Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, following a sequence of explosions and fires reported round Caracas within the early hours of the morning.

In a publish on Reality Social revealed early Saturday morning, Trump stated the U.S. had “efficiently carried out a large-scale strike towards Venezuela and its chief, President Nicolas Maduro,” including that Maduro and his spouse had been captured and flown in a foreign country. Trump stated the operation was carried out “along with U.S. Regulation Enforcement” and introduced a information convention for 11 a.m.EST at Mar-a-Lago.

The Venezuelan authorities swiftly accused the USA of launching what it referred to as a “grave navy aggression” towards the nation. In an announcement posted on Telegram, the federal government stated U.S. forces focused civilian and navy areas in Caracas in addition to within the close by states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira, calling the alleged assault a “flagrant violation” of the United Nations Constitution.

Movies circulating on social media platforms and first-person accounts point out the blasts started round 2 a.m. native time (1 a.m. EST).

A journalist in Caracas instructed NPR they woke as much as two explosions at La Carlota navy airport, positioned throughout the road from their dwelling. They noticed two fires on the runway that had been shortly extinguished. Instantly afterward, they reported listening to comparable detonations in different components of the town and planes flying low over Caracas for not less than an hour.

Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying plane had been heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026.

Matias Delacroix/AP

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Matias Delacroix/AP

Family later shared movies — which NPR has not independently verified — exhibiting a number of explosions throughout the metropolitan space, together with close to a navy base near the presidential palace, Miraflores.

The explosions come as the USA has been growing stress on the federal government of Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has accused Maduro of main a drug-trafficking group referred to as the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns.

Since late August, the U.S. has deployed plane carriers and warships to the Caribbean. The U.S. navy has struck dozens of small boats within the Caribbean and the Pacific it claimed had been transporting medicine towards the U.S. At the very least 115 individuals have been killed in not less than 35 recognized strikes on the vessels.

Maduro has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to take away him from energy with the intention to achieve entry to Venezuela’s huge oil reserves, among the many largest on the earth.

Regional response has been swift. Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel, an in depth ally of Venezuela that relies upon closely on its oil, denounced the assault as “legal.” Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro stated his forces are deploying to the Venezuelan border and promised further assist “within the occasion of a large inflow of refugees.” Against this, Argentina’s President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, praised the operation, posting on X: “Freedom lives.”