How did the US capture Maduro?published at 14:57 GMT
Image source, EPAImage caption,
Trump watched a live stream of the operation from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida
The US military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro happened overnight, but US spies had been monitoring Maduro’s every move for months before that.
A small team, including one source within the Venezuelan government, had been observing where the 63-year-old slept, what he ate, what he wore and even, according to top military officials, “his pets”.
The order from the president to begin the mission, dubbed “Operation Absolute Resolve”, came at 22:46 EST on January 2 (03:46 GMT on January 3), followed by a two-hour-and-twenty-minute mission by air, land and sea.
Trump watched a live stream of the operation from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, flanked by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He compared it to “watching a television show”.
More than 150 aircraft – including bombers, fighter jets and reconnaissance planes – were deployed through the course of the night, according to US officials, and Trump claimed he cut the power in the capital Caracas before the mission began.
