President Donald Trump said on Saturday the United States would take control of Venezuela at least temporarily following a covert military operation that removed President Nicolás Maduro from power and took him into US custody.
Speaking to reporters hours after the operation, Trump said Washington would oversee Venezuela’s administration and repair its oil infrastructure, adding that the United States planned to sell large amounts of Venezuelan crude to other countries. He did not say how long US involvement would last or what legal authority would underpin it.
US officials said Maduro and his wife were seized overnight from their residence on a military base and transferred to a US warship. They are being taken to New York to face prosecution under a Justice Department indictment accusing them of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The action followed months of pressure by the Trump administration on Maduro’s government and represented the most direct US effort to force a change of government abroad since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, according to current and former US officials.
Venezuela’s vice president condemned the operation in a televised address, demanded Maduro’s release and described him as the country’s legitimate leader.
The Trump administration said the operation — along with earlier deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean — was necessary to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. The legal basis for the action was not immediately clear.
Despite Trump’s assertion that US officials were already helping to run the country, Venezuelan state television continued to broadcast pro-Maduro programming on Saturday, including live images of supporters protesting in Caracas.
