The United States President Donald Trump said the US has captured Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and flew him out of Venezuela after a series of airstrikes, “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 social media. He even wrote that he will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Earlier this morning explosions rocked Caracas, capital of Venezuela, the Venezuelan government shared that there were attacks in Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro had reportedly declared national emergency and mobilization of defense forces. A United States officer confirmed that the strikes were carried out by the U.S, after months of threats by President Donald Trump. As per the images circulating on social media, there were blasts, black smoke and aircrafts in Caracas for about 90 minutes. The video showed the fear and shock among local Venezuelans, a woman looking at the blast in the distance is heard saying in the video, “My love, oh no, look at that,”, gasping at blasts in the distance.
What did the Venezuelan government and US government say?
In a statement the Venezuelan government said that the attack by the United States clarifies its motive to take possession of oil and minerals of the country. The statement also noted that ‘will not succeed” in taking the resources. While the Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which it has declined to comment on.
For a couple of weeks the U.S. had been making a major military buildup in the region, this included aircraft carriers, warships and advanced fighter jets. US President Donald Trump has also gone to an extent of blocking Venezuelan oil, expanding sanctions against the Venezuelan government and even made two dozen strikes on vessels, which Trump alleges to be involved in trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Last week in a statement, Trump had said that the United States had hit boats loaded with drugs in a particular area of Venezuela, this was the first time the U.S. carried out land operations in Venezuela. For a while now Trump has been accusing Venezuela of supplying drugs in the U.S. and for months the Trump administration has been intercepting and bombing boats that originate in South America. The action by the U.S. government has been criticised by other nations, while the Maduro government has denied any drug trafficking involvement.
