¡Cayó Maduro!
¡Cayó Maduro!
- Washington captures the Chavista leader and his wife, who are on a military vessel and will be taken to New York to be tried for drug and arms trafficking | Opposition leader María Corina Machado: “We are prepared to take power”
Donald Trump will speak following Saturday’s attack on Venezuela and the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro. The Republican will consider whether to support opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado in her bid for a political transition in Venezuela. Machado has stated that Maduro will be held accountable for his “atrocious” crimes and that Washington has “fulfilled its promise to uphold the law” in the face of Maduro’s refusal to “accept a negotiated solution.” “We are prepared to take power,” Machado wrote on her social media accounts. Maduro was captured on Saturday along with his wife, Cilia Flores, and is being transported to New York on a U.S. ship to face trial on charges of drug trafficking and weapons possession.
A line at a supermarket in Caracas this Saturday. / Ariana Cubillos / AP
Little activity on the streets of Caracas and some lines at supermarkets
In the early morning hours, after the night’s bombing raids, Venezuelans began venturing out to buy food. Lines were reported at some supermarkets. Cars were also crowded at gas stations as people filled their tanks in anticipation of a possible fuel shortage. People were stocking up on supplies amid the uncertainty. The Venezuelan government declared a state of emergency due to the external unrest, though it has not provided further details, which could include restrictions on movement.
Trump says he will consider a possible Machado presidency in Venezuela
US President Donald Trump has stated that he has to “consider” whether to support Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as a leader of a transition in Venezuela.
Asked in an interview with Fox News whether he would support Machado to assume power in Venezuela after US special forces removed Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from Caracas, Trump responded: “Well, we’re going to have to look into that right now.”
“[In Venezuela] they have a vice president, as you know. I mean, I don’t know what kind of elections those were, but, you know, Maduro’s elections were a disgrace,” insisted the Republican, who accuses the Venezuelan of leading a drug trafficking network.
Trump has repeatedly stated that Maduro—whom the United States does not recognize as the legitimate president of Venezuela—had a “rigged election” in 2024, which is why “people have no affection for him.” “He had very few loyalties, if any. He was a dictator, a tough guy, and he ruled with an iron fist, and people can’t believe how lucky he was,” the US president added.
Machado, seen as the key figure of the Venezuelan opposition, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 for her fight for democracy in her country. After the news broke, the activist and politician dedicated the award to Trump, who has thanked her for the gesture on several occasions.
Unable to run as a candidate for the opposition coalition, Machado threw her support behind former diplomat Edmundo González, whom her platform and several international governments recognize as the true winner of the elections in which Maduro claimed victory. (EFE)
Milei accuses Maduro of being “a narco-terrorist who has deep connections with the PSOE”
Argentine President Javier Milei has accused Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro of being “a narco-terrorist with deep connections to the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and Podemos,” and of interfering in elections in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Bolivia. In an interview with the LN+ network, Milei also expressed his “full support” for US President Donald Trump’s capture of Maduro during the attack on Venezuelan territory. “The Venezuelan people had no way out of this sinister equilibrium they were trapped in,” the Argentine president argued. “It’s not only good for Venezuela, but also good for the region,” he added.
Moscow denies that Delcy Rodríguez fled to Russia
The Russian government has denied reports by Reuters that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez had fled to Russia. According to Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke with Rodríguez by phone on Saturday, stating that the Kremlin “will continue to support the Bolivarian government’s policy aimed at protecting the country’s national interests and sovereignty.”
María Corina Machado, after Maduro’s capture: “We are prepared to take power”
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado has declared that “the time for freedom has arrived” for Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by US forces in a military operation early this morning. Machado asserts that Maduro will be held accountable for his “atrocious” crimes and that the US has “fulfilled its promise to uphold the law” in the face of Maduro’s refusal to “accept a negotiated solution.” She further states that “we are prepared to take power.”
In a statement published in X, she asserts that “what had to happen is happening” and that “we are going to restore order, free the political prisoners, build an exceptional country, and bring our children back home.” She does not specify who she means by “we.” Machado left Venezuela in December to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo and, as far as is known, has not returned to Venezuela.
He also states that Edmundo González, winner of the July elections, “must immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as commander-in-chief” of the army.
Finally, he calls for everyone to remain “vigilant, active and organized until the democratic transition is completed”, calling on those inside the country and those abroad to take up the task.
China warns that the capture of Maduro “gravely violates international law” and condemns “the reckless use of force against a sovereign state.”
China has strongly condemned the military operation launched by US President Donald Trump against Venezuela and “the actions directed against the president of another country.” “The hegemonic behavior of the United States seriously violates international law, infringes upon Venezuela’s sovereignty, and threatens the peace and security of Latin America and the Caribbean,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Beijing expressed its “deep shock” at what it called the “reckless use of force against a sovereign state” and urged Washington to respect international law and the UN Charter, as well as to “cease violations of the sovereignty and security of other countries.”
Around 500 Venezuelans celebrate Maduro’s capture in Lima
Venezuelans opposed to Nicolás Maduro have called for demonstrations this Saturday in various Latin American countries to celebrate the capture of the Chavista leader by US forces.
In Lima, the corner of the Venezuelan Embassy has been transformed into a festive cry for freedom since dawn. Around 500 Venezuelans gathered there early Saturday morning, chanting with joy and denouncing a government “that has already fallen.” Wrapped in Venezuelan flags, the approximately 500 demonstrators in front of the diplomatic mission sang the national anthem, danced, and embraced each other in emotional hugs. Peru is the second country with the largest Venezuelan population abroad, with more than 1.6 million.
Trump followed the operation against Maduro from his Mar-a-Lago mansion: “They took them out in a matter of seconds, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Trump watched the military operation from a room in his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, surrounded by military and intelligence personnel. A week earlier, he had given the order to attack Venezuela and capture Maduro. “If you had seen what happened—I literally saw it, like I was watching a TV show,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “If you had seen the speed, the violence—you know, they say the speed, the violence. It was amazing, an amazing job these people did. Nobody else could have done anything like it.”
The Republican president seemed enthusiastic as he recounted the operation. “They really just broke in, entered places that weren’t supposed to be entered, forced open steel doors that were there precisely for that purpose, and got them out in a matter of seconds. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump continued.
Guterres expresses his “deep alarm” at the “escalation of tension in Venezuela”
El secretario general de la ONU, António Guterres, ha expresado este sábado su “profunda alarma” por la reciente “escalada de tensión en Venezuela”, que ha culminado esta madrugada con una acción militar de Estados Unidos en el país y que, ha advertido, podría tener “preocupantes implicaciones” para la región.
Guterres subrayó a través de su portavoz, Stéphane Dujarric, que los acontecimientos recientes constituyen “un precedente peligroso” para el orden internacional e insistió en la necesidad de un “pleno respeto, por parte de todos”, del derecho internacional, incluida la Carta de las Naciones Unidas. (EFE)
Pequeña concentración en Caracas para repudiar el ataque estadounidense
Tan solo unas pocas decenas de personas han respondido hasta ahora al llamamiento del chavismo para que la población venezolana salga a las calles a repudiar el ataque estadounidense de esta madrugada, que además ha incluido la captura del presidente venezolano, Nicolás Maduro. Con el país sumido en la incertidumbre, la mayoría permanece en su casa. En Caracas, se concentró un pequeño grupo de militantes del oficialista Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela frente a la sede de la Vicepresidencia, con consignas a favor de “una Venezuela libre” y contra el presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump. Los manifestantes pidieron a la comunidad internacional que se exprese contra la intervención ordenada por Washington y la captura del líder chavista. “Fuimos atacados vilmente. El objetivo de Estados Unidos no es otro que robarse el petróleo venezolano, los recursos venezolanos”, declaró uno de los manifestantes entrevistados por la cadena Telesur. “Esta acción unilateral es una agresión”, señaló la exdiputada Blanca Eekhout, presente en la marcha.
Trump, sobre el futuro de Venezuela tras la caída de Maduro: “Estamos tomando esa decisión ahora”
El presidente de Estados Unidos ha asegurado que La Casa Blanca está decidiendo ahora lo que pasará en Venezuela tras la captura de Nicolás Maduro. En una entrevista telefónica en Fox News, el republicano ha asegurado: “Estamos tomando esa decisión ahora. No podemos arriesgarnos a dejar que alguien más lo dirija y simplemente se haga cargo de lo que él dejó. Así que estamos tomando esa decisión ahora. Participaremos activamente en ella. Y queremos lograr la libertad para la gente”.
La ubicación de Maduro fue rastreada por la CIA, según fuentes conocedoras de la operación
Aunque se desconocen los principales detalles de la operación, fuentes cercanas a esta explican que la ubicación fue rastreada por la CIA. El presidente Donald Trump había autorizado a la agencia de inteligencia a realizar actividades encubiertas dentro de Venezuela desde hacía meses.
Las fuerzas estadounidenses sacaron a Maduro y a su esposa de la cama mientras estaban dormidos, según cuenta la CNN de fuentes familiarizadas con el asunto, que no precisan dónde se encontraban cuando fueron asaltados.
The operation had been meticulously planned with intelligence units. Maduro sensed that an operation against him might be imminent and was obsessed with security. He had increased his security detail. He moved constantly around the country, frequently changed where he slept, and discarded his phones to avoid being tracked.
Manuel Antonio Noriega greets journalists after a meeting of the Council of State at the presidential palace in Panama City on August 31, 1989. / Matias Recart
Key points | Panama, 1989: the precedent for the US military attack on Venezuela
The accusations announced by Bondi and the military attack ordered by Trump are reminiscent of the invasion of Panama in December 1989. The Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega, surrendered and stepped down after a two-week siege by US forces in January 1990. A year before the military incursion, Washington had indicted Noriega on drug trafficking charges in a federal court in Florida.
After a seven-month trial in which 78 witnesses testified, the general was sentenced in 1992 to 40 years in prison after being found guilty of eight counts of drug trafficking and money laundering. “The trial was orchestrated by those who fear me and who thought they could discredit me through accusations or kill me during the invasion,” Noriega declared.
Ecuador rejoices at the capture of Maduro
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared his joy on Saturday upon learning of the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US forces following an attack on Caracas. “The time will come for all the narco-Chavista criminals. Their structure…”
“It will eventually collapse across the entire continent,” the Ecuadorian president stated, endorsing US accusations that Maduro is a drug kingpin in the region.
On his X account, Noboa dedicates part of his message to Venezuelan opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González. “It’s time to reclaim your country,” he tells them before assuring them that “both of you have an ally in Ecuador.” (EP)
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