Palm Beach (Somalia Today) – The United States will temporarily “run” Venezuela after capturing Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump announced Saturday, setting in motion an open-ended intervention that has sparked a diplomatic firestorm across Latin America and drawn concern at the United Nations.
Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said US special forces captured the Venezuelan leader in a large-scale operation that involved more than 150 aircraft.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are now aboard the USS Iwo Jima en route to New York to face “narco-terrorism” charges.
“We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” Trump told reporters. “We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in… It has to be judicious because that’s what we’re all about.”
Trump’s plan for direct US administration of the oil-rich South American nation immediately raised questions about sovereignty, legal authority, and how Washington intends to govern a country already strained by years of political crisis and outward migration.
‘Absolute resolve’
Details that emerged Saturday described a broad, tightly controlled assault that US officials labeled “Operation Absolute Resolve.”
Officials said a small circle inside the administration planned the operation over months and leaned on intelligence from a “close asset” within Maduro’s inner circle to track his movements.
US forces rehearsed key elements of the extraction before launching pre-dawn strikes aimed at degrading air defenses and other military infrastructure, according to accounts from US officials.
Trump said some US personnel suffered injuries, but he did not report fatalities.
Washington framed the operation as law-enforcement-driven and cited the UN Charter’s self-defense provision, Article 51, as its legal basis—an argument that critics and international law specialists have begun to dispute.
Global backlash
The intervention immediately split the region. Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned the action as “unacceptable,” convened an emergency cabinet meeting, and urged a UN response.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the US action set a “dangerous precedent” and stressed the need to respect international law and the UN Charter as Venezuela and Colombia, backed by Russia and China, pushed for an emergency Security Council meeting.
Across the hemisphere, several governments—including Mexico and Chile—emphasized sovereignty and restraint, while Argentina and Ecuador welcomed the removal of a leader they view as authoritarian.
Venezuela briefly closed its border with Brazil after the operation, disrupting aid and crossings before reopening them, underscoring regional concern about spillover and displacement.
Oil embargo
Trump said the United States will keep sanctions in place for now and will not immediately lift the embargo on Venezuelan oil.
“The embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect,” he said, adding that US naval forces would remain positioned until Washington’s demands are met.
Trump also argued that US energy companies would invest heavily to restore Venezuela’s deteriorated oil sector.
Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven crude reserves, but mismanagement, underinvestment, and sanctions have pushed output far below historic peaks.
Venezuelan officials said oil production facilities escaped damage during the strikes, leaving the country’s core economic asset intact as political authority shifts.
In Washington, the intervention triggered immediate scrutiny over presidential war powers and congressional oversight.
Democrats accused Trump of bypassing Congress to launch an intervention with uncertain limits.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dismissed the administration’s “narco-terrorism” justification as a pretext for regime change and pointed to the administration’s broader political messaging.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the secrecy, arguing the mission required surprise. Trump echoed that point, saying Congress often leaks.
A vacuum of power
Maduro’s capture leaves Venezuela in a precarious political vacuum. Trump said the United States will “run” the country for now, but Venezuela’s opposition wants a Venezuelan-led transition.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado welcomed Maduro’s removal and urged Edmundo González Urrutia—whom the United States and several allies recognized as the winner of the 2024 election—to assume the presidency.
Trump, however, cast doubt on whether Machado’s camp could govern effectively, signaling friction between Washington’s approach and the opposition’s preferred path.
The US legal case against Maduro predates Saturday’s operation. In 2020, US authorities charged him in the Southern District of New York with offenses including narco-terrorism-related counts, and later increased the reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction to up to $50 million.
For now, Caracas remains under a state of emergency. Venezuelan authorities announced a “general mobilization,” and senior officials condemned the strikes, signaling that while Maduro is in US custody, his governing apparatus has not publicly conceded control.
