Underneath a full moon in Caracas, the might of the U.S. military was on full display during the early morning hours of Jan. 3.
Special operations helicopters thudded through the sky at low altitude, exchanging fire with Venezuelan air defenses on their way to and from the compound whereArmy Delta Force operators capturedthe country's leaderNicolás Maduroand his wifeCilia Flores.
Fighter and bomber jets supported the raid force, striking air defenses and other targets in Caracas and three coastal states.
And the moonlight was all that much of Venezuela's capital had to go by, since U.S. cyber warfare operators and intelligence agencies disrupted the city's power supply.
US bombs targets in Venezuela and captures Nicolás Maduro, Trump says
Here's howthe raid to capture Maduro– Operation Absolute Resolve – went down, according to public comments from PresidentDonald Trump's administration and media reports.
The preparation for the raid took months, explained Air Force Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
A group ofCIA officersbegan working clandestinely in August to track Maduro. Other segments of the intelligence community also turned their lenses onto the Venezuelan leader: the electronic intercept capabilities of the National Security Agency, the imagery analysts of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and others.
The Pentagongradually built up U.S. troopsin the region, first by deploying missile-carrying ships and a floating Marine Corps task force, then fighter jets, then an aircraft carrier, then more fighter jets, and so forth, until a massive armada was in place.
The Army special operators tasked with the mission built a replica of Maduro's compound – just as was done for the 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in Abbotabad, Pakistan – and practiced meticulously.
"We rehearse again and again – not to get it right, but to ensure that we can't get it wrong," said Caine.
The pieces were in place in "early December," Caine said. But choosing the right day for the mission proved tricky.
Caine said the military wanted good weather for the risky helicopter flights. Maduro also needed to be in a location where U.S. troops could snatch him with minimal risk, including to civilians.
Conditions proved favorable on the night of Jan. 2. Trump gave the "go" order at 10:46 p.m. Eastern.
The raid force, which included law enforcement personnel, entered Venezuela on at least seven helicopters, flying roughly 100 feet above the Caribbean Sea.
The pilots of the Army's elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment – whose "Nightstalkers Don't Quit" motto Caine partially uttered in a thinly veiled shoutout during the press conference – navigated mountains, low cloud ceilings and enemy fire on their way to Maduro's compound.
The Venezuelan military was "in a very ready position," Trump said. But the timing of the American mission was a surprise, and Maduro's forces "were completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated."
An eyewitness captured video of the helicopters streaming across the Caracas sky as explosions lit up the mountains in the distance. More than 150 aircraft, including fighter and bomber jets from the Marine Corps, Navy, active duty Air Force and Air National Guard, participated in the operation.
Another member of the public caught a U.S. helicopter unleashing rockets at an unknown ground target.
The strike force touched down at Maduro's compound at 1:01 a.m. Eastern.
The raid unfolded quickly in the dark.
The compound "was more like a fortress than a house," Trump said.
Maduro and Flores made a run for a reinforced steel safe room. They likely hoped that, once they were holed up there, crisis response troops would come to their rescue.
But the U.S. operators knew about the room and were prepared to breach it with blow torches and other tools – Trump claimed that the special operators could breach the door in an average time of 47 seconds during their practice runs for the raid.
The U.S. raiders were fiercely opposed, with "a lot of gunfire," the president said.
A handful of U.S. troops suffered gunshot and shrapnel wounds, though officials said none of the injuries were life-threatening. One helicopter was hit by Venezuelan fire but "remained flyable," Caine said.
President Donald Trump, alongside (L/R), CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks to the press following US military actions in Venezuela, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 3, 2025.The U.S. "successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
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President Trump addresses the nation after military action in Venezuela
President Donald Trump, alongside (L/R), CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks to the pressfollowing US military actions in Venezuela, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 3, 2025.
The U.S. "successfully carried outa large scale strike against Venezuelaand its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The Venezuelan strongman didn't make it to his safe room in time. Maduro was unable to close the door.
"He got bum rushed," declared an ebullient Trump in a Saturday morning "Fox & Friends" interview.
After capturing Maduro and Flores, the raid force had to fight its way out of Venezuelan airspace, Caine said.
By 3:29 a.m. eastern, the helicopters were back over the Caribbean Sea.
Maduro and Flores were taken via helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship that acts as a floating base for Marines.
After hours of initial silence from the Pentagon and White House, Trump announced Maduro's capture via aTruth Social postat 4:21 a.m. Eastern.
He later shared a photo of the Venezuelan leader, blindfolded and clutching a water bottle aboard the ship, donning a gray Nike sweatsuit.
Maduro, long perceived as a savvy survivor of domestic political crises, is next slated to appear at his upcoming arraignment in a New York federal court.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Here's how the US attacked Venezuela, captured Nicolás Maduro
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