'We will run the country': Trump declares US control over Venezuela after military operation
US military fighter jets sit on the tarmac at José Aponte de la Torre Airport, formerly Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, on January 3, 2026. 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.
Image: Miguel J Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP
Hours after explosions rocked Caracas — part of a US large‑scale strike inside Venezuela — Donald Trump told reporters at his Mar‑a‑Lago estate that Washington would run Venezuela until a “safe, proper and judicious” transition could take place.
Trump said the severity of the assault, which saw Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife captured and flown out of the country, was one last seen during World War II.
"This was one of the most stunning, effective, and powerful displays of American military might and confidence in American history," Trump told the press on Saturday.
"We want peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela."
Venezuelan authorities called the attack, carried out by the US Army’s elite Delta Force on Friday night, an “imperialist assault”, declared a state of emergency, and urged citizens to take to the streets to defend their nation.
Governments around the world responded one after the other, including strong condemnation from Pretoria.
The air, land and sea operation comes after months of US accusations that Maduro’s government is linked to drug cartels — including the Cartel de los Soles and Tren de Aragua — and responsible for sending cocaine and fentanyl into the Land of the Free.
It also follows months of US military buildup in the region, including the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, along with several other warships in the Caribbean.
In recent weeks, the US has seized two oil tankers, attacked more than 30 boats carrying drugs, and struck what Trump described as “the dock area where they load the boats with drugs".
Trump, during his press briefing, said Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been indicted in the Southern District of New York.
The pair face charges of narco‑terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the US.
Trump said the attack was successful.
"Rarely do we see anything like it," he said.
"You have seen some raids in this country that did not go so well.
"They were an embarrassment. If you look back to Afghanistan or the Jimmy Carter years, those were different times.
"We are a respected country again, perhaps like never before."
Trump said US officers caught them in a ready position.
"They knew we had many ships out at sea, just waiting," he said.
"They were prepared, but they were completely overwhelmed and incapacitated very quickly.
"If you had seen what I saw last night, you would have been very impressed. I am not sure you will ever get to see it, but it was an incredible sight.
"Not a single American service member was killed, and not a single piece of American equipment was lost."
Trump also touched on Venezuela's oil reserves.
“We’re going to have our very large US oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country and we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so," he said.
"So we were prepared to do a second wave.”
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who was also at the press briefing, said: "America can project our will anywhere, anytime, the coordination, the stealth, the lethality, the precision, the very long arm of American justice, all on full display in the middle of the night."
SA formally condemned the attack, saying it was a grave violation of international law and a threat to the global rules‑based order.
The international relations and cooperation department said it constituted a clear breach of the United Nations Charter, which governs the conduct of states in international relations.
“SA views these actions as a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations, which mandates that all Member States refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” the department stated.
Dirco further stressed that international law does not permit external military intervention in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations, adding that such actions undermine the principle of state sovereignty.
“Furthermore, the Charter does not authorise external military intervention in matters that are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of a sovereign nation,” the statement read.
It also cautioned that history has shown military invasions often exacerbate instability rather than resolve political crises.
“History has repeatedly demonstrated that military invasions against sovereign states yield only instability and deepening crisis,” Dirco said, warning that unilateral use of force weakens the international system.
The department added that “unlawful, unilateral force of this nature undermines the stability of the international order and the principle of equality among nations".
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