Multiple explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers, were heard around Venezuela's capital, Caracas. Photo / X
Multiple explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers, were heard around Venezuela's capital, Caracas. Photo / X
President Donald Trump said US forces had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro after launching a “large scale strike” on the South American country.
“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 hiswife, captured and flown out of the Country,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump said he would give a news conference at 11am (5am NZT) at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Venezuela accused the United States of an “extremely serious military aggression” after explosions rocked the capital Caracas in the early hours of Saturday following a months-long pressure campaign by President Donald Trump.
US media outlets including Fox News and CBS News reported that the United States was conducting military strikes on the Caribbean country, in a dramatic escalation that Venezuelans had feared for weeks.
“Venezuela rejects, repudiates, and denounces before the international community the extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and people,” the government of leftist President Nicolas Maduro said.
A vehicle burns at La Carlota air base in Caracas after a series of explosions. Photo / Juan Barreto, AFP
The Venezuelan leader also declared a state of emergency.
The president of neighbouring Colombia called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations over the strikes.
“Alerting the whole world that they have attacked Venezuela,” leftist leader Gustavo Petro wrote on social media platform X.
Confusion reigned in Caracas as the strikes began.
People rushed to their windows and terraces in the middle of the night to try to make sense of events.
“From here, we can hear explosions near Fort Tiuna,” said Emmanuel Parabavis, referring to a large military base in the capital.
“Right now, you can hear something that sounds like a machine gun. There are a lot of detonations and gunfire,” Parabavis, 29, a public relations employee in the El Valle district, told AFP.
Power has been cut in certain parts of the city, according to residents.
‘They’re bombing’
Francis Pena, a 29-year-old communications professional living in eastern Caracas, told AFP that he was sleeping and his girlfriend woke him and said “they’re bombing”.
“I can’t see the explosions, but I (think I) hear the planes. We’re starting to prepare a bag with the most important things at home - passport, cards, cash, candles, a change of clothes, canned food,” Pena said.
Trump, who deployed an aircraft carrier and warships to the Caribbean as part of what he initially presented as an anti-drug smuggling campaign, had repeatedly threatened strikes on Venezuelan soil.
He said on Monday the US had hit and destroyed a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats, in what would be the first known land strike of the campaign.
Maduro had neither confirmed nor denied that strike, but said on Thursday he was open to co-operation with Washington.
Night view of Caracas taken after a series of explosions heard in the city. Photo / Federico Parra, AFP
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of heading a drug cartel and says it is cracking down on trafficking, but the leftist leader denies any involvement in the narcotics trade, saying Washington is seeking to overthrow him because Venezuela has the largest known reserves of oil on Earth.
Washington has ramped up pressure on Caracas by informally closing Venezuela’s airspace, imposing more sanctions and ordering the seizure of tankers loaded with Venezuelan oil.
US forces have also carried out numerous strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, targeting what Washington says are drug smugglers.
The strikes have killed at least 107 people, according to the US military.
