“After months of work by our intelligence teams to locate Maduro and understand his movements – where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore and even his pets -, in early December our force was ready, waiting for a series of events to align,” the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed this Saturday, Dan Cainefrom the mansion of Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
The Air Force general explained the details of the night mission in Caracas, which resulted in the capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife, the “first combatant” Cilia Flores. The operation, named Absolute Resolution, It involved more than 150 aircraft, which were launched after midnight on Saturday to “achieve a single objective”: arrest the Chavista leader, accused of drug trafficking in the United States.
The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who appeared alongside the Secretary of State, Marco Rubioand the head of the Pentagon, Pete Hegsethclarified that they chose early Saturday morning in order to “minimize civilian casualties” and because the weather conditions were appropriate.
The military only had to wait for “the order of the president,” who followed the operation from one of the rooms in his private complex in Palm Beach, surrounded by generals.
Trump described the footage of the operation as “a television show.” “The helicopters took them out, and they went on a nice helicopter flight; I’m sure they loved it. But they have killed a lot of people, remember that,” he declared in Fox News.
“They just broke in, entered places that really couldn’t be opened, broke steel doors that had been put in place precisely for this reason, and were taken out in a matter of seconds,” he celebrated. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
1:01, the key time
The White House proposed carrying out the operation on Christmas Day, but decided to prioritize airstrikes against camps linked to Islamist insurgents in northern Nigeria, according to the network. CBS. Maintaining the “element of surprise” was the premise on which the elite Delta force worked to capture the Chavista leader.
“We arrived at 1:10 where Maduro was. The military came down and proceeded with speed, determination and discipline to capture their objective. They isolated the area to guarantee security and arrested the people,” Caine himself explained at a press conference.
During the arrest of the couple, US Intelligence teams gave information “in real time” to the air forces. “Maduro and his wife surrendered,” Caine boasted. According to the CNNthe couple was dragged out of their bedroom in the Miraflores Palace. The presidential complex was, in Trump’s words, “a reinforced military fortress in the heart of Caracas.”
Questioned about the legality of the action, Rubio explained from Mar-a-Lago that the Administration decided to notify Congress only after having carried out the operation, and not before to avoid possible leaks. “They were a little surprised, but they expected something. There was a lot of opposition. There was a lot of shooting,” Trump responded about the response of Venezuelan forces.
The Delta Force left Venezuelan territory around 03:29 Washington time (08:29 GMT) with the detainees aboard a helicopter that transferred them to the USS Iwo Jima. A boat that left for New York.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, during the marches commemorating the Battle of Santa Inés, in Caracas.
Reuters
Dark judicial horizon
Maduro and his wife were brought to justice upon their arrival in the United States. The Chavista leader will be tried in the court of the Southern District of New York for crimes of “conspiracy to import cocaine” and “conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States,” among other charges, according to Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi.
The 25-page indictment unsealed this Saturday accuses Maduro, his wife and son, Nicolás Maduro Guerranicknamed as The Prince in the documents, of conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.
It is not the first time that United States courts have issued a formal accusation against Maduro and his closest entourage, however. In 2020, federal prosecutors in New York, Washington and Florida charged the former Venezuelan president and fourteen other Chavismo operators with narcoterrorism, corruption and drug trafficking. An accusation that did not reach trial due to the inability to arrest or extradite Maduro. This time it will be different.