U.S. SNATCHES MADURO

Venezuela President, wife being taken to New York in dramatic coup; US will run it for now

- AGENCIES @ Caracas

A videgrab of a blaze in Caracas on Saturday after US bombing, and President Trump releases the first photograph of Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima en route the US | X/AP

(AP)

THE United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and whisked him out of the country in a brazen and surreal military operation early Saturday that plucked a sitting leader from office.

President Donald Trump said US will “run” Venezuela until a political transition takes shape, and he would tap Venezuela’s gigantic oil reserves to sell to other countries.

The action marked the culmination of an escalating Trump administration pressure campaign on the South American country that consisted of months of strikes on boats that officials said were smuggling drugs to the US.

Behind the scenes, US officials tracked Maduro’s behavioral habits, including what he ate and where he slept, in preparing for the stunning regime change. The ‘extraction’ in Caracas, codenamed ‘Operation Absolute Resolve’, took months of rehearsal and more than 150 US aircraft, including F-18, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, B-1 bombers and drones, top US General Dan Caine said.