Trump says US to "run" Venezuela after Maduro's capture

US President Donald Trump said the US will indefinitely “run the country” of Venezuela and “rebuild the oil infrastructure” after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in a large-scale military operation today.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he said during a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on January, Caliber.Az reports per the White House official website.

“We don’t want to be involved with having someone else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. So we are going to run the country.”

Trump added that he determined the US should take charge of Venezuela to ensure that the eventual next leader has the “good of the Venezuelan people in mind. But he offered no timeline for how long such a transition of power was expected to take.

He also described the US operation against Venezuela as a warning: “This extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”

The US president noted that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro personally oversaw the activities of the "vicious cartel," which smuggled drugs into the United States: ”He personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel Deles Solless, which flooded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless Americans.”

Earlier today, US Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife had been charged with drug terrorism. She stated that they would soon face the full rigour of the American justice system.

The relationship between the United States and Venezuela has reached a dramatic escalation point today with U.S. military actions resulting in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. This follows months of intensifying pressure from the Trump administration, framed primarily around accusations of narco-trafficking, election fraud, and regime illegitimacy.

In the early hours of January 3, 2026, the U.S. conducted large-scale airstrikes on Venezuelan targets, including military facilities in Caracas (e.g., Fuerte Tiuna base and La Carlota airport). Explosions were reported across the capital.

President Trump announced via social media that Maduro and his wife were captured in a precision raid, reportedly involving elite units like Delta Force, and flown out of the country aboard the USS Iwo Jima.

By Khagan Isayev