US president confirms attack on Venezuela and says Nicolás Maduro and wife Cilia Flores have been flown out of country
Guardian staff
The US president, Donald Trump, has said Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been captured and flown out of the country after a “large scale” pre-dawn assault on Caracas and the surrounding region. Here is what we know so far:
US attorney general Pam Bondi says deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will face criminal charges after an indictment in New York. Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple will “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts”.
In a statement on X, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said Maduro is “under indictment for pushing drugs in the United States”. Republican US Senator Mike Lee said on Saturday that Rubio had told him that he “anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in US custody”.
Earlier, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that the US had “captured” Venezuela’s dictator, Maduro, and his wife, and flown them out of the South American country after a pre-dawn assault on Caracas and the surrounding region.
Venezuela’s government accused the US of launching a series of attacks against civilian and military targets in the South American country, after explosions rocked its capital, Caracas, before dawn on Saturday.
In a statement, Venezuela’s government urged citizens to rise up against the assault and said Washington risked plunging Latin America into chaos with “an extremely serious” act of “military aggression”. It added: “The entire country must mobilise to defeat this imperialist aggression.”
Explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas in the early hours of Saturday. In its statement, Venezuela’s government confirmed that the city had come under attack, as well as three other states: Miranda, La Guaira and Aragua.
Venezuela has accused the US of trying to “seize control” of country’s resources, in particular its oil and minerals. Th country has called on the international community to denounce what it called a flagrant violation of international law that put millions of lives at risk.
In the early hours of Saturday the president of neighbouring Colombia, Gustavo Petro, called for an immediate emergency session of the UN security council, saying on social media that Venezuela had come under attack.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has reacted to Donald Trump’s military action in Venezuela saying: “The UK was not involved in any way in this operation.” He added that “we should all uphold international law”.
Russia has demanded “immediate” clarification about the circumstances of the capture of Maduro during an attack ordered by Trump. Earlier, Venezuela’s vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, said the US needed to provide “proof of life” for Maduro.
