Hours after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured and flown from the country after “a large-scale strike”, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday (January 3, 2026) that the United States will “run” Venezuela and tap its huge oil reserves. He was speaking at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida after what he claimed was “one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American might and confidence”.
He said the strike “rendered all Venezuelan military capacities powerless”. Without getting into details, Mr. Trump said: “We’re going to be running it with a group.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to be working on the details.
“We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Mr. Trump said, adding that Mr. Maduro and his wife have been indicted in the southern district of New York for their campaign of deadly narco-terrorism against the United States and its citizens.
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At the press conference, Mr. Trump indicated that U.S. troops could be deployed in Venezuela. The U..S is “not afraid of boots on the ground,” he said.
Although the operation is being framed as a law-enforcement action, the U.S. President made clear that regime change and Venezuela’s oil riches are the major goals. “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure,” he said.
“We’ll be selling large amounts of oil,” he said.
The 79-year-old Republican also posted a picture of Mr. Maduro in custody on a U.S. naval ship wearing a blindfold, handcuffs and what looked like noise-canceling ear muffs. He and his wife were being taken to New York to face narcotics and terrorism charges.
Although the operation is being framed as a law-enforcement action, Trump made clear that regime change and Venezuela’s oil riches are the major goals.
Talking about the operation, Mr. Trump said the assault began with a partial blackout caused by U.S. “expertise.”
“Overwhelming American military power – air, land and sea was used to launch this assault. It was an assault like people have not seen since World War 2. It was a force against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas to bring outlaw-dictator Nicolas Maduro to justice. This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American might and confidence in American history. No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved. All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless as the U.S. law enforcement successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night,” Mr. Trump said.
“We knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in from sea. Most of these drugs come from Venezuela,” he said.
Mr. Trump said that U.S. forces were prepared for a second, larger attack as part of the operation to capture Mr. Maduro overnight, but that it was not necessary.
Mr. Trump told reporters that the U.S. military forces would remain in position until U.S. demands had been fully met. “The American armada remains poised in position, and the United States retains all military options until the United States’ demands have been fully met and fully satisfied,” he said.
Embargo on oil in full-effect
A U.S. embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect, Mr. Trump said.
The Trump administration notified members of Congress about the military operation in Venezuela immediately afterwards, Mr. Rubio told reporters. “This is not the kind of mission that you can do congressional notification on,” Mr. Rubio said. “It was a trigger-based mission in which conditions had to be met night after night. Congress has a tendency to leak,” Mr. Trump added.
More than 150 aircrafts
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said that the operation involving Venezuela included more than 150 aircraft and was carried out on the direct orders of Mr. Trump.
He said that Mr. Trump ordered the U.S. military at 10:46 p.m. ET on Friday (January 2) to move forward with the Venezuela mission.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores surrendered to U.S. forces in Caracas, before being extracted from the country to face federal drug trafficking-related charges in New York, a General Caine said.
“Maduro and his wife, both indicted, gave up and were taken into custody by the Department of Justice, assisted by our incredible U.S. military with professionalism and precision, with no loss of U.S. life,” General Caine said.
(with inputs from Reuters, AFP)
Published – January 03, 2026 11:42 pm IST
