Trump watched the operation to capture Maduro from his Mar-a-Lago mansion: “They took them out in seconds, I've never seen anything like it”
Trump watched the military operation from a room at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida mansion, surrounded by military and intelligence personnel. A week earlier, he had given the order to attack Venezuela and capture Maduro. “If you had seen what happened — I literally saw it, like I was watching a TV show,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “If you had seen the speed, the violence – you know, they say the speed, the violence. It was amazing, an amazing job that these people did. No one else could have done that.”
US President Donald Trump/PHOTO: AFP
The Republican president seemed excited as he recounted the operation. “They just broke in, got into places they weren't supposed to, forced steel doors that were there for that very purpose and got them out in seconds. I've never seen anything like it,” Trump continued.
Trump also said that the US military operation in Venezuela this morning, which included a wave of bombings on targets in several cities and the capture of Nicolás Maduro by an elite military team, resulted in no deaths among US forces, only “a few” soldiers were injured.
The US president said the administration will now decide what will happen in Venezuela after the capture of Nicolás Maduro. “We're making that decision now. We can't risk letting someone else run it and just pick up where he left off. So we're making that decision now. We're going to be actively involved in that process. And we want to get freedom for the people.”
The United States will be “heavily involved” in Venezuela's oil industry
The United States will have a “strong presence” in Venezuela's oil industry following the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump told Fox News. “We have the biggest oil companies in the world, the biggest, and we're going to be very involved in this process,” he said.
Maduro's location was tracked by the CIA, according to sources familiar with the operation
Although the main details of the operation are unknown, close sources explain that the location was tracked by the CIA. President Donald Trump had authorized the intelligence agency to conduct covert activities in Venezuela months before.
US forces pulled Maduro and his wife out of bed as they slept, CNN reported, citing sources familiar with the situation, who did not say where they were when they were attacked.
The operation had been meticulously planned with intelligence units. Maduro sensed that an operation against him might be imminent and was obsessed with security. He had increased his security staff. He was constantly moving around the country, frequently changing his sleeping place and throwing away his phones to avoid being tracked.
Dozens of Venezuelans celebrate Maduro's capture in the streets of Madrid
Dozens of Venezuelans gathered spontaneously in Madrid's Puerta del Sol to celebrate the capture of Nicolás Maduro. To the sound of traditional Venezuelan music, some danced, dressed in the Venezuelan tricolor. They recited the Lord's Prayer and shouted: “We are free!”
Jorge Rodríguez, the president of Venezuela's National Assembly and close to Nicolás Maduro, remains in Caracas after the US attack, according to several sources familiar with his whereabouts who spoke to Reuters. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez is in Russia, the same sources said.
