Following months of tensions and speculations, the United States (US) on Saturday struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, before moving them out of the country to New York. President Donald Trump accused Maduro of running 'narcotic' regime and said that the Venezuelan president will face trial in a court in the US.
Trump, a 79-year-old Republican president, also said that the US will run Venezuela for now and tap its oil reserves. "We don't want to be involved with having someone else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. So we are going to run the country," he said at a press conference from his Florida mansion.
Inside details of how Maduro was captured
During the same presser, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairperson General Dan Razin Caine said the mission to capture Maduro was named 'Operation Absolute Resolve'. Extensive planning was done for months and the US military conducted a detailed reece before conducting the operation, he said, adding that missions involved around 150 aircraft.
The US forces had even built a replica of Maduro's residence and was tracking his daily details. While conducting the operation, the US also "turned off almost all of the lights" in Venezuela, surprising Maduro's forces.
"At 10:46 pm Eastern time last night, the president ordered the United States military to move forward with this mission. In total, more than 150 aircraft, bombers, fighters, intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, rotary wing were in the air last night," General Caine said.
"One of our aircraft was hit but remained flyable, and as the President said earlier today, all of our aircraft came home and that aircraft remained flyable during the rest of the mission. Maduro and his wife, both indicted, gave up and were taken into custody by the Department of Justice," he added.
Trump hails US military
Trump has hailed the US military for successfully capturing Maduro and his wife, noting that the Venezuelan military was rendered 'powerless' during 'Operation Absolute Resolve'. The Venezuelan president will face full might of 'American justice' for his role in drug trafficking, Trump said.
"No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday or frankly, in just a short period of time. All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless as the men and women of our military, working with US law enforcement, successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night," Trump said.
