Trump supervised a simulation of Maduro’s capture by Delta Force in June and his team published videos on social media

Trump oversaw last June in Fort Braggthe base of the elite Delta Force unit located in North Carolina, a maneuver of the United States Army Special Operations Command. In the drill, a group of soldiers are seen getting off an MH-47G Chinook, protected by AH-64 Apache gunships that fire at various targets. on the roof of a building and enter its interior while a ground team offers support from several vehicles.

Dan Scavinodeputy director of Trump’s Communications Office, shared on his X account on June 10 a video of almost two and a half minutes in which you can see the Republican president, accompanied by the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Secretary of the Army Dan Driscollcontemplating a military maneuver practically similar to the one that was carried out last Saturday to capture Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Margo Martinanother close Trump advisor present at Fort Bragg, also published images of the demonstration that same day, which also included the launch of missiles and troops from the XVIII Airborne Corps.

All this staging of American military power was part of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the Army. The president, however, focused his speech on defending the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles and took the opportunity to announce that his Administration was going to restore the names of Confederate leaders on seven military bases erased by his predecessor in the White House, Joe Biden.

Despite the publicity given to these practices, it seems that within the Bolivarian intelligence services no one realized the possibility that the North American special forces carried out a similar action in the hideout of the Venezuelan autocrat. And it wasn’t because Trump’s words week after week predicted an intervention to overthrow Maduro.

The actual operation

Named as Absolute Resolutionthe mission mobilized more than 150 aircraft – a variety of fighters, specialized electronic jamming aircraft, B-1 supersonic bombers and others designed to detect early warning of missile launches –, which took off from twenty different US-controlled military bases in the Western Hemisphere.

A previous cyber attack turned off the lights of Caracas, and the aircraft were disabled in record time the air defenses of the Venezuelan capital. Without opposition, MH-47 Chinooks and MH-60 Black Hawks helicopters transported the elite Delta Force troops to the fortified complex where Maduro and his wife were resting.

They both jumped out of bed to try to reach a shielded room inside the bunker, but they did not succeed, being injured in their escape attempt. The presidential couple was transported by helicopter to the USS Iwo Jimaan amphibious assault ship deployed off the coast of Venezuela, which took them to Guantanamo Island and from there to New York, where on Monday they appeared in court.

American special forces prepared for months for the operation. To such an extent that they rebuilt Maduro’s bunker. They made a replica on the same scale to rehearse the capture. Two weeks before the operation, the Army deployed two Delta Force units to Venezuelan territory to x-ray Maduro’s steps. They drew up a “pattern of life” for the Chavista leader thanks to a mole that the CIA recruited in the inner circle of the Bolivarian leader.

The mission lasted two hours and 20 minutes. During that period, the United States Army bombed the La Carlota air base, the port of La Guaira and the Higuerote airport, in addition to the Cuartel de la Montaña, a military museum installed at the top of a popular neighborhood where, in theory, the mortal remains of Hugo Chavez. A location of enormous symbolism for the regime.

But the main objective of the operation was Fuerte Tiuna, headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, residence of dozens of senior commanders and the main airport of the Air Force. It was the fortified complex where the Chavista leader and Cilia Flores stayed.