U.S. Abducts Nicolás Maduro From Venezuela in Trump Regime Change Operation

President Donald Trump claimed early Saturday that the U.S. had spirited Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro out of the country and taken him into custody, marking a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s regime change efforts.

Hours after airstrikes lit up the night sky across the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Trump claimed credit for the attacks and said that Maduro had been taken into U.S. custody.

“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.”

The U.S. has not made such a direct intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose military leader Manuel Noriega.

Asked what the future held for the Venezuelan people on Saturday morning, Trump said the U.S. would decide its fate. “We’re making that decision now. We can’t take a chance on letting somebody else run it,” Trump said on Fox News. “So we’re making that decision now. We’ll be involved in it very much.”