In the main photo of this article, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, can be seen, handcuffed, after landing on a heliport in Manhattan, on their way to the federal court in the Manhattan borough of New York, on January 5, 2026
Trump administration officials told congressmen on Monday that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were injured after they hit their heads while fleeing US forces trying to arrest them, CNN learned from sources close to the process.
Maduro and Flores began to run, trying to hide behind a heavy steel door, inside the complex where they lived. However, the door frame was low, causing them to hit their heads when trying to escape, those responsible said, according to the same sources. Delta Force agents detained them and provided them with first aid after they were removed from the complex, they add.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, Attorney General Pam Bondi and CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with key members of Congress for more than two hours on Monday night.
Maduro and his wife appeared in court this Monday with visible injuries. Flores’ lawyer stressed to the judge that his client had “suffered significant injuries” during the abduction. “It is also believed that he may have a fracture or a serious bruise on his ribs.” The lawyer requested an X-ray and a complete physical evaluation to ensure his client’s health from now on.
During the session, Flores staggered and tilted his head. Maduro had difficulty sitting down and getting up at certain times, according to reporters who were present at the court. Sketches made at the scene show Flores with bandages on his head.
Sources interviewed by CNN say that government officials informed congressmen on Monday that Flores’ head injury was minor.
CNN requested comments from Maduro and Flores’ lawyers on the most recent data regarding their injuries.
Some Delta Force agents were also injured during the operation, following a large shootout, as the Cuban rapid action force was close to the complex where Maduro lived, government officials explained. Troops were hit by bullets and shrapnel. However, the injuries were not fatal. It is expected that it will recover completely, according to those responsible.
There were nearly 200 U.S. troops in Caracas during the operation, Hegseth said Monday at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia.
Those responsible who presented the information did not have a precise estimate of how many Venezuelans or Cubans were killed during the operation. However, the Cuban Government stated, also on Monday, that 32 of its soldiers and police were killed. Trump’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, Stephen Miller, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday that the number would likely be higher, describing what happened as an “intense shootout.”
“The vast majority of casualties and deaths inflicted were against the Cuban guard, who exercised control over the people of Venezuela,” said Miller.
During the press conference, authorities insisted that Maduro’s capture was not a regime change operation, given that the Venezuelan government remains practically intact and is now led by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, according to sources familiar with this meeting. Rubio said the U.S. government considers her to be more pragmatic than Maduro and someone the U.S. can work with. The opposition leader, María Corina Machado, would be unable to exercise control over the regime’s security forces, the same sources considered.
The government’s political decision regarding Rodríguez was based on a confidential CIA analysis of the impact of Maduro’s departure from the presidency and the short-term implications of his possible dismissal, according to a source familiar with the matter. This was not a recommendation based on the expectation of regime change in Venezuela, added the same source.
The intelligence document, kept confidential, was commissioned by senior government officials. The CIA is expected to continue to provide similar recommendations on the leadership situation in Venezuela in the future, according to multiple sources interviewed by CNN.
Rubio has been the Trump administration’s main point of contact with Rodríguez. President Donald Trump told NBC News this Monday that Rubio “speaks fluently to her in Spanish” and that the “relationship between them has been very solid.”
Those responsible said they had maintained contacts with Delcy Rodríguez, as well as her brother Jorge Rodríguez, who is president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, for months. However, they described these contacts with the regime as an attempt to bring about a change in behavior, not as a request to help overthrow Maduro.
Rodriguez is also the minister responsible for oil in Venezuela. The Trump administration is expected to work with the US on rebuilding Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, allowing US companies to operate there in the future. Still, there is no formal agreement in place with Rodríguez, the same sources said. There is only an expectation that the US pressure campaign, which includes a fleet of warships in the Caribbean, will be a sufficient influence on decision-making.
