It took US forces less than two-and-a-half hours to snatch President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the small hours of last Saturday morning, said Dan Sabbagh in The Guardian.
But this “extraordinary display of imperial power” – involving 150 US aircraft, including bombers and fighter jets – was the product of months of planning.
‘He got bum rushed so fast’
According to Gen Dan “Raizin” Caine, chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, US intelligence agencies had been working since August to establish Maduro’s “pattern of life”. Using spy drones, and information from one or more agents within the Venezuelan government, they’d discovered “where he lived, where he travelled, what he ate, what he wore, what were his pets”.
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As the US steadily built up its military presence in the Caribbean from August – the deployment ultimately included up to a quarter of all the US navy’s warships – Maduro knew he was in danger. He tightened up his security, stopped trailing his public appearances, and slept in different places; yet the US still managed to achieve “tactical surprise”.
The Trump administration had hoped that its show of force in the Caribbean would persuade Maduro to stand down; and it seems that, late last month, he was offered a “gilded exile” in Turkey, said The New York Times. Yet he rejected that, and was then seen dancing at rallies – a public display of nonchalance that apparently incensed the White House, and prompted Trump to give the order for Operation Absolute Resolve to proceed.
Shortly after 2am on Saturday, residents of Caracas were woken by the sound of huge explosions, as US aircraft disabled Venezuelan air defences; the lights went out across the city (“Due to a certain expertise that we have,” Trump would boast later); and a convoy of helicopters then swooped over the capital, carrying Delta Force commandos to the Maduros’ fortified compound. As they stormed in, Maduro made it to a safe room, but – said Trump – “he got bum rushed so fast” he didn’t have time to close its steel door. A number of US troops suffered bullet and shrapnel wounds; according to Havana, 32 members of Maduro’s Cuban security detail were killed. By 4.20am, the couple had been dragged into a helicopter, and were being flown across the ocean, to the warship USS Iwo Jima.
The raid evoked memories of the US assault on Panama in 1989, when George H.W. Bush sent in troops to capture another Latin American leader accused of drug-related offences in the US, said The Economist. But that was a "full-fledged invasion, involving more than 27,000 troops”. It was directed at a far smaller country, with a far smaller army – and it was far less impressive. Having initially evaded capture, Manuel Noriega took refuge in the Vatican’s embassy: the US had to flush him out by blasting rock music at it. The apparent ease with which US forces entered Caracas backs Trump’s boast that this was one of the most “stunning” displays of American might in history – and that “no [other] nation in the world” could have achieved it.
‘Maduro regime was loathed and feared’
It’s being described as the fastest regime change in history, but at the same time, Maduro’s downfall has been a long time coming, said Simeon Tegel in The Daily Telegraph. The sorry state of Venezuela today owes much to his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, the leader of the socialist “Bolivarian Revolution” in Venezuela. He set in train the collapse of the once-prosperous country by, among other things, nationalising swathes of businesses and relying far too heavily on revenues from oil exports; but his redistributive policies and anti-imperialist posturing ensured that he remained popular with many. So when he anointed the unswervingly loyal Maduro as his heir, shortly before his death from cancer in 2013, it did much to ensure the former bus driver’s succession.
Yet Maduro lacked Chávez’s charisma and his popular support; and under his hapless tenure, the crisis accelerated, said Michael Day in The Independent. The oil price crashed and social programmes were dismantled. Price controls led to dire shortages of food and medicines. Businesses closed and oil production plummeted, owing to lack of investment and lucrative jobs being handed to Maduro’s cronies. Inflation reached 344,509% in 2019. With US sanctions exacerbating the problem, GDP shrunk 80% from 2013 to 2025. Eight million people – about a quarter of the population – emigrated.
Maduro, however, held on to power, by rigging elections; allowing business leaders, senior army officers and judges “to engage in highly profitable graft” in return for their support; and brutally suppressing dissent. In this, said Colette Capriles in The New York Times, he was also aided by the intelligence services, paramilitary groups called “colectivos” and regional bosses vying for kickbacks. And that is the problem. The Maduro regime was loathed and feared. But the corrupt networks that sustained it can’t be dismantled overnight, and while they’re in place, the path to a better future for Venezuela will not be clear.
