How the United States captured Maduro

For months, U.S. spies have been monitoring Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s every move.

A small team, including a source within the Venezuelan government, has been observing where the 63-year-old sleeps, what he eats, what he wears and, according to senior military officials, “his pets.”

Then, in early December, a planned mission called Operation Absolute Resolve was finalized. It was the culmination of months of meticulous planning and rehearsals, which even included elite U.S. troops building a full-scale replica of Maduro’s Caracas safe house to practice their entry routes.

The plan – the equivalent of an extraordinary U.S. military intervention in Latin America since the Cold War – is closely guarded. Congress was not notified or consulted in advance. Once the precise details were ironed out, senior military officials simply waited for optimal launch conditions.

Officials said Saturday they wanted to maximize surprises. President Trump approved the plan four days ago, but they chose to wait for better weather and less cloud cover.

“Over the Christmas and New Year’s weeks, American service members prepared and patiently waited for the right trigger point and for the president to order us to take action,” Gen. Dan Cain, the nation’s most senior military officer, told a news conference Saturday morning.

At 22:46 ET on Friday, the President finally issued the order to begin the mission. “We were going to do this four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, and then suddenly something happened. We said: Let’s go,” Trump himself told “Fox & Friends” on Saturday, hours after the nightly raid.

“He said to us, we appreciate it… good luck to you, good luck to you,” Gen. Kane said. Trump’s order came shortly before midnight in Caracas, allowing troops to operate mostly in darkness.

What followed was a two-hour, 20-minute air, land and sea mission that shocked many in Washington and around the world. This is almost unprecedented in terms of scale and precision. It drew immediate condemnation from several regional powers, with Brazilian President Lula da Silva saying the Venezuelan leader’s violent arrest “sets another extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.”

Trump is not focused on the mission in the White House Situation Room. Instead, he was surrounded by advisers at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, and watched a live broadcast of the operation in the company of CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“It’s an incredible thing,” Trump said Saturday. “If you can see what’s going on, I mean, I really watch it like a TV show. If you can see the speed, the violence… it’s just, it’s an amazing thing, and the job these guys do is amazing.”

Thousands of U.S. troops have deployed to the region in recent months, joining an aircraft carrier and dozens of warships in the largest military buildup in decades as President Trump accused Maduro of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism and blew up dozens of small boats accused of moving drugs through the region.

But the first signs of Operation Absolute Resolve were in the sky. More than 150 aircraft, including bombers, fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft, were eventually deployed during the night, according to U.S. officials.

“The whole exercise, the landings, the number of aircraft is very complex, extremely complex,” Trump told Fox News. “We have a fighter jet that can handle every possible scenario.”

At around 2:00 a.m. local time, a huge explosion was heard in Caracas, and thick smoke rose over the city. “I heard a huge sound, a bang,” journalist Ana Vanessa Herrero told the BBC. “It moved all the windows. And then I saw a huge plume of smoke that almost blocked the whole view.”

“Planes and helicopters are flying all over the city,” she said.

Soon, videos of numerous planes in the sky and others showing the aftermath of the explosion began to circulate widely on social media. One of the photos showed a convoy of helicopters flying low over Caracas, with smoke rising from an apparent explosion.

An eyewitness said: “At around 1:55 in the morning, we woke up to the sound of explosions and the roar of planes over Caracas.” Daniela told the BBC. “Everything was plunged into absolute darkness, lit only by the flash of nearby explosions.”

“Neighbors were messaging in the apartment group chat and they were confused, didn’t know what was going on and were frightened by the explosion,” she said.

BBC verify examined a number of videos showing explosions, fires and smoke in areas around Caracas to determine exactly which locations were targeted.

So far, it has identified five locations, including General Francisco de Miranda Air Base, an airport called La Carlotta and the port of La Guaira, Caracas’ main gateway to the Caribbean.

Some U.S. strikes have targeted air defense systems and other military targets, officials said. Trump also suggested that the United States cut power to Caracas before the mission began, but he did not specify how that would be done.

“The lights were basically turned off in Caracas because of the expertise we had,” he said. “It was dark and deadly.”

As strikes broke out around Caracas, U.S. troops entered the city. Sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS that they included members of the elite Delta Force, the US military’s top special missions unit. They were heavily armed and carried blowtorches in case they had to puncture the metal door of Maduro’s safe house.

General Kane said that shortly after the attack began, the troops arrived at Maduro’s location at 02:01 local time. Trump described the safe house as a heavily fortified military “fortress” in downtown Caracas. “They were ready and waiting for us. They knew we were coming,” he said.

The troops came under fire as they arrived and one of the US helicopters was hit but was still able to fly. “The arresting force moved deep into Maduro’s compound and acted with speed, precision and discipline,” Gen. Kane said.

“They just broke in, they broke into places that were actually impossible to break into, you know, the steel doors were put there for that reason,” Trump said.

It wasn’t until the operation was underway — and Maduro’s wife, Celia Flores, was also captured — that Secretary of State Marco Rubio began briefing lawmakers on the operation, a decision that has since sparked outrage from some in Congress.

“Let me be clear: Nicolás Maduro is an illegitimate dictator. But launching military action without congressional authorization and without a credible next step is reckless,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

Rubio told reporters at a news conference Saturday that briefing Congress early could jeopardize the mission. “Congress has a tendency to leak,” Trump added. “This is not good.”

At Maduro’s compound, as elite U.S. troops swarmed in, Trump said the Venezuelan president – who has reportedly increased his reliance on Cuban bodyguards in recent months – was trying to escape to a safe room. “He was trying to get to a safe place, but it wasn’t safe because our door would have been blown down in about 47 seconds,” he said.

“He got to the door. He couldn’t close the door,” Trump said. “He was rushed so fast that he didn’t make it into that (room).”

Asked whether the United States would kill Maduro, the authoritarian leader who took over in 2013, if he resisted arrest. “It could happen,” Trump said. On the U.S. side, “a few people were shot,” he said, but no U.S. service members died. Venezuelan authorities have not confirmed any casualties.

The United States has previously offered a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest. But by 04:20 local time on Saturday, the helicopter left Venezuelan territory, with Maduro and his wife on board, detained by the Justice Department and eventually flown to New York, where they are expected to face criminal charges.

Almost exactly an hour later, Trump announced his arrest to the world. “Maduro and his wife will soon face the full wrath of U.S. justice,” he said.

Additional reporting by Cristobal Vasquez