Former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was indicted on drug and weapons charges in the Southern District of New York on Saturday, just hours after he was captured in a surgical military operation after weeks of buildup.
In the early hours of the morning on Saturday, January 3, U.S. military forces executed a large-scale operation in Venezuela. The operation involved airstrikes on military targets in Caracas and a ground raid that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The couple was extracted from the country and transported to the United States, where they are set to face federal charges in the Southern District of New York.
President Donald Trump announced the operation on social media, stating that Maduro and Flores had been captured and flown out of Venezuela. Reports indicate that the raid involved elite units, including the U.S. Army’s Delta Force, with explosions reported at sites such as Fuerte Tiuna military complex and La Carlota airbase.
The operation years of U.S. pressure on the Venezuelan government, including sanctions and a reward program that had reached $50 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest. In recent months, President Donald Trump had ordered a massive military buildup in the region and launched a number of strikes on Venezuelan drug-trafficking vessels with links to the regime.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the latest indictment — which builds on previous drug-trafficking charges — in an X post Saturday morning.