CAPTURED!

United States special forces take Maduro Trump says: 'We're going to run Venezuela'

- BY STEPHEN BEECH AND MATT CLEMENSON

AMERICAN elite special forces captured Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a large-scale military strike that saw the US seize control of the country.

US President Donald Trump said Maduro accused of running a narcoterrorism regime - was flown out of the oil-rich nation's capital Caracas in what he described as a "brilliant operation' involving "a lot of good planning, a lot of great, great troops".

The president said that "air, land and sea was used" for an assault "like people have not seen since World War Two", as he addressed the media in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, yesterday.

It came moments after he shared an image on his Truth Social platform of what appeared to be the Venezuelan leader in restraints.

He captioned it: "Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima." Mr Trump said the US is going to run the South American nation "until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition". He confirmed the US military had prepared a second strike if unrest continued. He added: "All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless and our military successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night. The lights of Caracas were turned off due to a certain expertise we have.Trump added: "Not a single American service member was killed, not a single piece of American technology was lost."

Trump insisted he wanted "peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela" and confirmed the US would now take up administration of the country for the foreseeable future.

Venezuela declared a national emergency, with officials denouncing American "military aggression" as Venezuelan tanks were deployed on to streets.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Maduro, 63, will "stand trial on criminal charges" in the United States.