Overnight and into the morning of January 3, an extraordinary military operation captured Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores and flew them to the USS Iwo Jima. This action had been presaged for months, as the Trump administration sought to negotiate Maduro’s exit from power. At present, strikes have been reported in at least four Venezuelan states—Caracas (federal district), La Guaira, Miranda, and Aragua. Both Maduro and his wife have been indicted in the Southern District of New York on drug trafficking charges. While many of the operational details remain vague—and likely classified—the U.S. military appeared to overrun Venezuela’s air defenses, while special operations forces and law enforcement agencies participated in the raid on Maduro’s house. The operation appears to have been an overwhelming success on the tactical level, as the U.S. Air Force controlled the skies, Venezuela’s radars and electrical grid were jammed, and many of its air defenses were destroyed. Only time will tell if the operation was successful at the strategic level.
Maduro Captured: What Comes Next for Venezuela? (Ryan C. Berg – CSIS)
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