Donald Trump took advantage of his marathon State of the Union speech to praise the supposed successes of his economic and anti-immigration policies. But emboldened by the theatricality of the scene, he reveled in his supposed mission as a world peacemaker and took pride in the development of the Operation Absolute Resolution.
The US president celebrated the capture of Venezuelan autocrat Nicolás Maduro as “one of the most complex and spectacular feats in terms of competition and military power in world history.” “No one has seen anything like it,” he insisted, boasting about the performance of the US Special Forces.
Trump then wanted to publicly recognize with the highest US military decoration, the Medal of Honor, one of the troops who participated in the daring operation: Chief Petty Officer Eric Slover, pilot of one of the CH-47 Chinook helicopters that entered the “heavily protected military fortress” of Fuerte Tiuna, in Caracas.
Slover, who appeared limping on the Congress platform accompanied by his wife and amid shouts of “USA! USA!”, was one of the seven soldiers who were injured by bullet or shrapnel impacts during the mission, carried out on January 3.
“As he prepared to land, the enemy machine guns that escaped the wrath of [los bombardeos de] The previous planes fired from all angles and Eric was severely hit in the leg and hip, one bullet after another,” Trump said, graphically adding that the pilot suffered up to four shots that “shattered his leg into numerous pieces.”
The heavy MH-47 Chinook flown by Slover was the primary helicopter responsible for inserting the assault team. Despite the fire received during the landing maneuver and the injuries suffered, he was able to keep the device in the air, allow his gunners to eliminate the enemy threat, complete the deployment of the soldiers and guarantee the safety of the troops on board.
“The success of the entire mission and the lives of his companions depended on Eric’s ability to endure searing pain,” the Republican president highlighted during his speech, avoiding what could have been “a catastrophic accident deep in enemy territory.”
“Maduro was the only thing Eric thought about,” Trump added, emphasizing that the soldier is still convalescing. “As blood gushed down the hallway, the helicopter landed at a steep angle.” He also took the opportunity to mock that the Venezuelan defenses, equipped with Chinese and Russian military technology, “did not work very well.”
The description made by the US president offers a new image of the military action that resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The details of the operation, as well as the identities of the Special Forces members who carried it out, have been largely shrouded in secrecy ever since.
Lieutenant General Jonathan Braga, head of the Joint Special Operations Command, presented Slover with the Medal of Honor in the gallery of the House of Representatives. The pilot was wearing his dress uniform and used a walker to maintain his balance. Trump said that ten other soldiers who participated in the operation will be decorated in a ceremony at the White House.