The operation in Venezuela this Saturday morning (3), in which President Donald Trump stated that the United States had captured Nicolás Maduro, the country’s leader, was the culmination of months of threats and accusations.
The Trump administration accused Maduro of drug trafficking, and the State Department classified him as the head of a “narco-terrorist state.”
American authorities claim that Maduro, who defines himself as a socialist and has led Venezuela since 2013, is an illegitimate leader and accuse him of controlling criminal groups linked to drug trafficking — accusations he denies.
Continues after advertising
The pressure campaign against Maduro has been growing for years, through a series of accusations, sanctions and, recently, military actions.
In 2020, during the first Trump administration, Maduro was indicted in the US on corruption, drug trafficking and other charges. In 2025, the US increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture to $50 million.
In recent months, Trump’s top aides have stepped up pressure to remove Maduro from power as the administration seeks to turn the domestic war on drugs into an international terrorist threat.
Since late August, the Pentagon has assembled a dozen ships in the Caribbean Sea. With more than 15,000 troops in the region, the American reinforcement is the largest since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
Saturday’s commando operation, the riskiest known to the U.S. since SEAL Team 6 killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 in Pakistan, comes amid a legally controversial military campaign in Latin American waters aimed at increasing pressure on Maduro.
This campaign has seen 35 American attacks that have killed at least 115 people on boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. Many legal experts say these attacks are illegal and that the army is killing civilians.
Continues after advertising
Although some, possibly most, of the suspected traffickers are Venezuelan, the boats attacked also carried people from Colombia, Ecuador and Trinidad.
Unlike traditional operations against drug trafficking, which target high-ranking cartel leaders, the attacks on boats targeted low-level operators in illegal trafficking. By capturing Maduro, the administration will likely claim that it has arrested the mastermind behind the alleged trafficking.
In reality, Venezuela is not a major source of drugs for the US. The country does not produce fentanyl, and the cocaine that passes through Venezuela is cultivated and produced in Colombia, and then goes to Europe.
Continues after advertising
Trump has also repeatedly threatened to carry out ground attacks in Venezuela. Last week, the CIA carried out a drone strike on a port facility in Venezuela that the U.S. believed was storing drugs from a Venezuelan gang, according to people briefed on the operation.
The operation to capture Maduro was also Trump’s latest unilateral exercise of power. He did not have explicit authorization from Congress, where a bipartisan group in the Senate has promoted legislation to try to limit his authority for military actions inside Venezuela.
On Saturday, Senator Mike Lee of Utah said on social media that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told him over the phone that Maduro was “arrested by US personnel to face criminal proceedings in the United States.”
Continues after advertising
In a social media post following the announcement of Maduro’s capture, Rubio republished a message he wrote in July in an apparent attempt to address concerns, including from Republican lawmakers, about the legality of the attacks and arrest.
“Maduro is NOT the president of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government,” Rubio wrote.
Lee said Rubio did not expect further action in Venezuela now that Maduro was in custody.
Continues after advertising
The Trump administration’s approach to Venezuela since 2025 has been guided by three goals: weaken Maduro, use military force against drug cartels, and guarantee American companies access to the country’s vast oil reserves.
The goal of overthrowing Maduro was an initiative defended by Rubio.
On July 25, Trump signed a secret order for military action against the cartels, authorizing maritime attacks. Administration officials called the attacks on the boats “Phase One,” with SEAL Team 6 leading the way.
At the time, policymakers were also discussing a vague “Phase Two,” with Army Delta Force units possibly carrying out ground operations.
In October, Trump canceled efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement with Maduro after the Venezuelan leader refused to voluntarily cede power and continued to deny involvement in drug trafficking.
As the boat attacks continued into the fall, Trump, Rubio and Stephen Miller, a top White House adviser on immigration policy, moved to the next phase of the campaign against Maduro: seizing oil tankers to deprive Venezuela of revenue.
They insisted that Maduro must return oil and other assets “stolen” from the US before what Trump called a blockade is lifted.
In the first few weeks, the tactic shook the Venezuelan economy by paralyzing the oil industry. Critics called it gunboat diplomacy or, as Maduro put it, “a warmongering and colonialist pretension.”
c.2026 The New York Times Company
