The United States has carried out a major operation against Venezuela, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and removing him from the country, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday.
If confirmed, the action would mark the most direct U.S. military involvement in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama that toppled former leader Manuel Noriega.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States had conducted a “large-scale strike” and that Maduro and his wife were taken into custody and flown out of Venezuela.
There was no immediate response or confirmation from the Venezuelan government.
Washington has long accused Maduro of overseeing a “narco-state” and manipulating election results. Maduro, who came to power in 2013 after the death of Hugo Chávez, has repeatedly claimed that the United States seeks to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the largest in the world.