America's Venezuela Gambit

The U.S. operation in Venezuela marks a dramatic escalation with legal, regional and global repercussions-raising older questions about power, legitimacy and international order

- SANJAY AGARWAL

Beyond the capture of Nicolás Maduro lies a more complex battle: global law versus geopolitical will, domestic uncertainty in Venezuela, and a reshaped Latin American landscape

The United States attacked Venezuela by air and by special forces (Delta Force) operations in the early hours of January 3, 2026.

They captured the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and flew them out of Venezuela. The operation marks a major escalation in the long-simmering U.S.- Venezuela confrontation, with immediate regional and global implications.

Explosions rocked Caracas at 2 am local (12.30 pm IST today, 3 Jan 26), targeting Fort Tiuna (main Caracas army base), La Carlota airbase, communications antennas at El Volcán, and La Guaira port in Miranda/Aragua states. Venezuela declared an emergency; it decried the "military aggression," reports civilian/military hits and unclear casualties. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a NOTAM banning U.S. civil aviation over Venezuelan airspace.

The attack caps months of U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean under "Operation Southern Spear," which had already involved dozens of strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and the seizure/blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers linked to Iran and sanctioned crude.

Washington has long treated Maduro as illegitimate and had outstanding indictments for narcotics and corruption; the raid operationalises those legal warrants through force, blurring lines between law enforcement and interstate war. The strikes appear to follow a classic decapitation strategy: precision attacks on command, air and communications nodes, coupled with a special-forces snatch operation aimed at regime change.