Name: Venezuela: What happened and what's next? | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-01-13T17:20:46.000Z
Duration: 10 min 49 s
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That's how long it took the US to seize Venezuela's former leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife from their safe house in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

But Operation Absolute Resolve had been finalized in early December.

US troops had even created an exact full size replica of the house to practice entry routes.

Late on Friday night, local time, the mission began.

At first, there were loud explosions in Caracas around 2am on Saturday morning.

Then videos showing aircraft and explosions started to emerge.

As the strikes were happening, US forces made their way to the city.

More than 150 aircraft were used to get the extraction team there.

Officials say they targeted air defense systems and military targets.

We geolocated at least five locations from videos available online.

Among the team was Delta Force, the US military's top special mission unit.

Shortly after the strikes began, they reached the safe house after a CIA source who had infiltrated Venezuela's government helped the US track Maduro's location.

It was at Fuerte Tiuna, a huge military complex where top government officials live.

According to Venezuelan officials, photos the next day showed bombed out buildings and charred, smoldering cars.

The former Venezuelan president attempted to flee to a safe room but didn't make it in time.

The Cuban government later said that 32 of its nationals were killed during the operation.

Cuba has for years supplied Maduro with his personal security detail and his members in the Venezuelan military.

At least 23 Venezuelan military personnel were also killed in the operation.

Maduro, handcuffed with headphones and a blindfold on a ship called the USS Iwo Jima on the way to the US at the office of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in New York.

And in court pleading not guilty to charges including narco terrorism.

First you're going to need to know a quick history of Nicolas Maduro.

He's the leader of the United Socialist Party and became president in 2013, taking over from his mentor Hugo Chavez.

Nicolas Maduro was trained and sort of formed ideologically in Cuba when he was a union leader.

He's got close ties with the Castro brothers and subsequently with Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel.

the US and many other nations say the election was rigged and his presidency illegitimate.

He's increasingly repressed opposition groups and supporters and silenced any dissent in Venezuela, including with the use of violence.

Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have left the country over the past decade, driven out by economic crisis, widespread shortages and political repression.

The country has been in an intense humanitarian crisis.

There has been extreme poverty, inflation, shortages of crucial things like medical supplies.

Many feel like this is not just the result of economic mismanagement, mismanagement of resources, but

Last year, on 8 August, the US doubled the reward for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro, up to $50 million.

The charges, including narco terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking, had been leveled against him in 2020, during Trump's first term.

In 2025, they accused him of being one of the largest narco traffickers in the world.

Venezuela's Foreign minister, Africa, said the new reward was pathetic, calling it political propaganda.

Nicolas Maduro undoubtedly presided over a very, very corrupt government, very corrupt regime, very corrupt armed forces, and

The argument by Washington, by the Trump administration, is that he himself is a drug cartel leader.

Maduro has always rejected US claims that he's directly involved in drug trafficking.

Then, during the last couple of weeks of August, the US started moving warships into waters just off Venezuela.

On 2 September, Trump said 11 narco terrorists had been killed in a US strike on an alleged drug trafficking vessel from Venezuela.

This was the start of months of strikes announced on social media carried out against what the US say were terrorists attempting to bring drugs into the country by boat.

The posts often included grainy video clips with no evidence of alleged drug trafficking and few details on who or what was on board.

More than 35 strikes have been launched in the Pacific and Caribbean, killing more than 110 people.

With the exception of two survivors, a Colombian and an Ecuadorian national, none of the identities of those on board have been made public.

Some experts say the strikes could violate laws governing armed conflict.

The first attack by the US back on 2 September drew particular scrutiny as there was not one but two strikes, with survivors of the first killed in the second.

Several legal experts told the BBC that the second strike on the boat by the US military was probably illegal and would likely be considered an extrajudicial killing under international law.

The White House said it had acted in line with the laws of armed conflict to protect the US from cartels trying to bring poison to our shores, destroying American lives.

By 11 November, a US naval strike force arrived in the Caribbean, including guided missile destroyers and among it the world's largest warship, USS Gerald R.

Ford, which carried more than 4,000 troops and dozens of aircraft.

They joined a substantial military force already there, including thousands of troops and a nuclear powered submarine.

On 24 November, the US designated Cartel de los Soles, a terrorist organization at the time.

They also alleged that Maduro headed the cartel, an accusation he has strongly denied.

On 10 December, the US released clips showing what they say was the US military state seizing an oil tanker near Venezuela.

The White House said it'd been involved in illicit oil shipping.

The Venezuelan government said the US Kidnapped the crew and stole the ship.

A few days later, a total and complete US blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

At the time, more than 30 of the 80 ships in Venezuelan waters or approaching the country were under U.S.

sanctions, according to data compiled by TankerTrackers.com after the tanker was seized, multiple new U.S.

sanctions on ships carrying Venezuelan oil were issued.

A second oil tanker was seized on 21 December.

On 29 December, the US said they'd carried out a strike on a dock area linked to alleged Venezuelan drug boats, but

they didn't give any details or a location.

The explosion was caused by drone strike carried out by the CIA, according to CNN and the New York Times, who cited sources close to the matter.

And that brings us to the 3rd of January, when the US seized Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela.

So why did this all happen and what other basis does President Trump have to claim oil from Venezuela?

Well, the US Is still saying this is about a couple of things, that it's about drug trafficking, but

also now very much saying that this is about oil.

Donald Trump has repeatedly used this phrase where he says that Venezuela stole U.S. oil.

Now, what he seems to be referring to there, that when Venezuela's oil industry was nationalized, there were some US companies who either had their contracts terminated or changed, meaning some of them had to put out of the country.

Some of them still feel that they are owed millions and millions of dollars of compensation they didn't receive after that happened, which seems to be the basis behind Donald Trump's claim.

There are a number of concerns that all companies have at the moment.

Is it going to be risky if they invest in this country, if there could well be more political, social, economic turmoil in the years ahead?

Two is a lack of infrastructure and investment.

It's expected it could take years before the infrastructure in Venezuela is really restored to the levels that it once was when some of these companies were operating there.

There are concerns and there have been historical examples where There have been, for example, hostage taking connected with oil companies in Venezuela.

I think there are, there are concerns about whether there would be a backlash to US Companies operating in the region from people who don't think that Venezuela's resources should be sold to the United States.

Well, there are obviously a few things to go through here.

Nicolas Maduro is gone, but his inner circle, key figures of his regime are still in place.

Well, let's look at who's become president.

It's Delcey Rodriguez, that was his vice president.

He was the man who promoted her to that role.

She'd held, held a whole variety of roles before then, first under Ogo Chavez and then under Nicolas Maduro for the Chavistas, a line has been very, very clearly crossed.

They're furious that Washington will have done this in the 21st century, would have hit another country in the Western hemisphere with airstrikes, would have removed a sitting president from power.

And I think even those who would say, well, this man might have been in power, but

he was there legitimately, he should be gone, would be reticent about the way that it was done.

The truth of the matter is that Washington displayed this awesome power that everybody knew they possessed.