President Trump says US captures Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro
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You're listening to a special edition of the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 12.30 GMT on Saturday the 3rd of January.
What led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro by the US?
The US says it's captured the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after launching airstrikes on Caracas and other cities.
Venezuela has declared a state of emergency and condemned the attack as a colonial war.
We don't know where President Nicolas Maduro is.
In the face of this brutal situation and in the face of this brutal attack, we have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the president, Nicolas Maduro.
We'll hear from Caracas and Washington and get reaction from our chief international correspondent, Lise Doucette.
He never has used the phrase regime change with Venezuela, casting it as well as along with his top officials as being a national security threat. It is clear that this is regime change in all but name.
From the banana wars of the early 20th century to Cold War proxy battles, the US has a long history of military intervention in Latin America. But not since the invasion of Panama nearly four decades ago has America unleashed the might of its armed forces in the region it considers its backyard. That has all changed under President Trump, despite his vow not to get involved in foreign wars. For months, he's been agitating for the overthrow of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Since September, US forces have killed about 100 people on alleged drug boats in the region. And at 2 o'clock this morning local time, the American military launched a major attack on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
Footage posted on social media showed huge explosions across the city, while dozens of helicopters thought to be Chinooks and Apaches flew overhead. Then, at around four in the morning in Florida, President Trump posted on Truth Social saying US forces had successfully carried out a large-scale strike on Venezuela and that the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife had been captured and flown out of the country. Venezuela condemned the attack as a colonial war. The defence minister said Venezuela's armed forces and people would fight to defend themselves. The vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, had this message for the United States.
In the face of this brutal situation and in the face of this brutal attack, we have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the President, Nicolas Maduro, and the First Lady, Celia Flores. We demand from the Donald Trump government immediate proof of life for President Maduro and the First Lady. We demand our international rights be respected. We condemn this brutal, savage aggression against our country that has taken the lives of military officials who will now become martyrs of our country and that have taken the lives of innocent civilian Venezuelans in all the different attack locations.
Ana Vanessa Herrero is a journalist in Caracas and she sent us this report.
started hearing the planes around 2 a.m. local time. And I heard a huge sound, a loud bang that moved all the windows, not only in my place, but around the area. And immediately after, I saw a huge cloud of smoke that almost blocked the entire view and a lot of detonations. And immediately after, a lot of people started reporting from different parts of Caracas, of the capital of Caracas, the same things that I was witnessing, the same reports, the same explosions, the same sounds of planes and helicopters flying all over the city. Now, we do know that the government confirmed that this attack was not only in Caracas, but in Miranda and Aragua too. And also in La Guaira. So Aragua and La Guaira are very important locations in Venezuela.
Military, they're very important for the military, of course. But in La Guaira, it's where the port and the airport are. And apparently... There are reports of the port of Venezuela being absolutely destroyed. There are several videos shared on social media that show a very popular street in La Guaira, in the port of Venezuela.
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