After months of threats and pressure tactics, the United States on Saturday bombed Venezuela and toppled authoritarian left-wing leader Nicolas Maduro, who was seized to face trial in New York.- How did it start? -The first explosions were heard in the capital Caracas and surrounding areas shortly before 2:00 am (0600 GMT), continuing until around 3:15 am.Images on social media showed helicopters silhouetted against the night sky and missiles slamming into targets, creating fireballs and huge plumes of smoke.Trump said at 0921 GMT on his Truth Social platform that the United States had “successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela” and that Maduro and his wife had been “captured and flown out of the Country.”Top US General Dan Caine said the goal of “Operation Absolute Resolve” was purely to seize Maduro, with airstrikes clearing the way for helicopters used in the capture raid.Caine said the operation, involving more than 150 aircraft, followed months of preparation.- What was hit? -Fort Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, was among the targets.The vast base in southern Caracas is home to the defense ministry, a military academy and housing units for thousands of troops and their families.AFP reporters saw flames and huge plumes of smoke rising from the complex. At one of the entrances, which was still guarded, an armored vehicle and a truck were pocked with bullet marks.La Carlota airbase east of Caracas was also targeted. AFP reporters saw an armored vehicle at the base in flames and a burned bus.Explosions were also reported in La Guaira, north of Caracas, home to a port and an international airport; the north-central city of Maracay; and Higuerote on the Caribbean coast — all within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Caracas.- Are there casualties? – Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez accused US forces of firing missiles and rockets at residential areas.As of Saturday night, Venezuelan authorities had yet to release casualty figures.Trump, speaking on Fox News program “Fox and Friends,” boasted that no US soldiers had been killed. He later told the New York Post that “many Cubans” who were protecting Maduro had died, the first indication of casualties from the US strikes.- What has become of Maduro? – The operation brought the curtain down on 12 years of increasingly authoritarian rule by Maduro, who had a $50 million US bounty on his head.Trump posted a picture on Truth Social of the Venezuelan leader handcuffed and blindfolded aboard a US naval ship in the Caribbean.From there he and his wife Cilia Flores were flown to New York to face drugs and weapons charges.Trump said he followed the operation to capture Maduro live at his Mar-a-Lago estate “like I was watching a television show.””He was in a very highly guarded… like a fortress actually,” he said.He said Maduro tried in vain to escape to a safe space.Caine said intelligence agents had spent months studying how Maduro “moved, where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore, what were his pets.”He said the 63-year-old Socialist and his wife surrendered without resistance.- What next for Venezuela? -Trump stunned US allies and foes alike by saying the United States would “run” Venezuela during an undetermined transitional period.He indicated that could involve deploying US troops on the ground.Venezuela’s opposition leader, Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado, took to social media to proclaim her country’s “hour of freedom has arrived.”Machado, seen as a hero by many Venezuelans for her dogged resistance to Maduro, called for the opposition’s candidate in the 2024 election to “immediately” assume the presidency.Trump brushed aside any expectations Machado herself would emerge as leader, claiming she did not have “support or respect” in Venezuela.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States will “run” Venezuela and tap its huge oil reserves after snatching leftist leader Nicolas Maduro out of the country during a bombing raid on Caracas.Trump’s announcement came hours after a lightning attack in which special forces grabbed Maduro and his wife, while air strikes pounded multiple sites, stunning the capital city.The Maduros were being transported to New York to face narcotrafficking and weapons charges.Despite the success of the risky operation, what happens next is highly uncertain.Trump said he was “designating people” from his cabinet to be in charge in Venezuela, but gave no detail of how this would work.In another surprise, Trump indicated that US troops could be deployed there in the future, saying Washington is “not afraid of boots on the ground.”But Trump appeared to reject the possibility of the country’s repressed opposition taking power and said he could work instead with Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez.One aspect that became clearer was the White House’s motivation.Although the operation is being framed as a law enforcement action, Trump made clear that regime change and Venezuela’s oil riches were the major goals.”We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies… spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure,” he said. “We’ll be selling large amounts of oil.”- Trump dismisses opposition leader -US-backed opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, posted on social media that “the hour of freedom has arrived.”She called for the opposition’s candidate in the 2024 election, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, to “immediately” assume the presidency.But Trump was surprisingly cold about expectations that Machado could become Venezuela’s new leader. She doesn’t have “support or respect” there, he said.Instead he touted Rodriguez, saying “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”Rodriguez however poured cold water on that, demanding Maduro’s release and vowing to “defend” the country.Reflecting the confusion, Trump indicated that US involvement is likely for the long haul.”We’re there now, but we’re going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place,” he said.China, a backer of Maduro’s leftist regime, said it “strongly condemns” the US operation, while France warned that a solution cannot “be imposed from outside.”United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected.”- Blackout and bombing -Venezuelans had been bracing for attacks as US forces, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, spent months massing off the coast.Caracas residents woke to explosions and the whir of military helicopters around 2:00 am (0600 GMT). Air strikes hit a major military base and an airbase, among other sites, for nearly an hour, AFP journalists said.The top US military officer, General Dan Caine, said 150 aircraft took part in the operation, supporting troops helicoptering in to seize Maduro with the help of months of intelligence into the leader’s daily habits — down to “what he ate” and what pets he kept.Maduro, 63, and his wife “gave up” without a struggle and there was “no loss of US life,” he said.Maria Eugenia Escobar, a 58-year-old resident of La Guaira near the heavily bombed main airport, told AFP that the blasts “lifted me out of bed, and I immediately thought, ‘God, the day has come.'” Within hours of the operation, Caracas had fallen eerily quiet, with police stationed outside public buildings and a smell of smoke drifting through the streets.- Shifting justifications -The US and numerous European governments already did not recognize Maduro’s legitimacy, saying he stole elections both in 2018 and 2024.Maduro — in power since 2013 after taking over from leftist mentor Hugo Chavez — long accused Trump of seeking regime change in order to control Venezuela’s oil reserves.Trump has given a variety of justifications for the aggressive policy toward Venezuela, at times stressing illegal migration, narcotics trafficking and the country’s oil industry.But he had previously avoided openly calling for regime change.Several members of Congress quickly questioned the legality of the operation. However, Trump’s key ally Mike Johnson, Republican speaker in the House of Representatives, said it was “justified.”burs-sms/sst/acb/mlm