recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize<\/a>, said Saturday that she and her team were prepared to assume control of Venezuela.<\/p>\n\u201cThe hour of freedom has arrived,\u201d she wrote on social media. \u201cWe are prepared to assert our mandate and take power.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in a surprising statement, Trump told reporters that he did not believe Machado had the \u201crespect\u201d needed to run the country.<\/p>\n
Trump instead focused on how his Cabinet intends to run Venezuela in the coming days, stating that American oil companies are ready to descend on the country and begin \u201ctaking out tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wealth is going to the people of Venezuela and people from outside of Venezuela that used to be in Venezuela, and it goes to the United States of America, in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused to us by that country,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
In recent speeches and media appearances, Machado has expressed support for privatizing Venezuela\u2019s oil industry, without committing herself to granting U.S. companies preferential treatment in a post-Maduro world.<\/p>\n
\u201cOil wealth was not used to uplift, but to bind,\u201d Machado said in her Nobel Prize lecture last month. \u201cAnd then came the ruin: Obscene corruption; historic looting. During the regime\u2019s rule, Venezuela received more oil revenue than in the previous century combined. And it was all stolen. Oil money became a tool to purchase loyalty abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n
The world\u2019s largest oil reserves<\/p>\n
Venezuela, a country of 30 million people with twice the landmass of California, sits on the largest oil reserves in the world. But its production capacity has been relatively weak in recent years, owed in large part, experts say, to U.S. sanctions, as well as poor government investment in its infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Up until now, China has been the largest importer of Venezuelan crude, purchasing between 60% and 80% of its barrels output each month. Senior Chinese officials were in Caracas when the raid occurred, and in a statement, China\u2019s foreign ministry said it was \u201cdeeply shocked\u201d by what it described as a \u201chegemonic\u201d U.S. action that violated international law.<\/p>\n
The U.S. operation began with explosions throughout Caracas, as more than 150 U.S. aircraft, including F-35 fighter jets, B-1 bombers and remotely piloted drones, cleared away Venezuelan air defenses to make way for the interdiction team, which included U.S. law enforcement officers. Electricity was cut throughout much of the city as the assault unfolded, Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.<\/p>\n
A Delta Force unit penetrated Maduro\u2019s heavily fortified compound at 2:01 a.m., capturing him and his wife as they attempted to escape into a safe room, U.S. officials said. Only one helicopter in the U.S. fleet was hit by Venezuelan fire, but was able to continue flying through the mission. No U.S. personnel were killed, Caine said. <\/p>\n
Trump, who had ordered the CIA to begin monitoring Maduro\u2019s movements months ago, watched as the operation unfolded from a room at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, \u201cliterally like I was watching a television show,\u201d the president said in an interview with Fox News on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
\u2018Full wrath of American justice\u2019<\/p>\n
From there, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken to the USS Iwo Jima, stationed in the Caribbean alongside a third of the U.S. naval fleet, before the ship set course for New York, where Maduro will face charges over his alleged ties to illicit drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you would\u2019ve seen the speed, the violence,\u201d Trump told Fox. \u201cAmazing job.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a social media post, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi wrote that Maduro and his wife were \u201ctwo alleged international narco traffickers\u201d who would be facing criminal charges in New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,\u201d Bondi said.<\/p>\n
Maduro, according to a new indictment, is charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States. His wife is charged in the cocaine conspiracy.<\/p>\n
The indictment says Maduro \u201csits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis cycle of narcotics-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States,\u201d the indictment says.<\/p>\n
\u2018Congress will leak,\u2019 Trump says<\/p>\n
The Trump administration did not seek congressional approval for the attack, prompting lawmakers from both parties on Capitol Hill to express trepidation and concern over the operation. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Saturday that it was \u201cnot the kind of mission that you can pre-notify because it endangers the mission.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump agreed, saying that members of Congress tend to \u201cleak\u201d information to the public. \u201cCongress will leak and we did not want leakers,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Democrats and some Republicans in Congress raised questions about the legality of the attack and the administration\u2019s long-term vision for Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) questioned whether Trump\u2019s operation was consistent with his vows to put \u201cAmerica first,\u201d and said a U.S. military campaign targeting drug cartels would focus not on Venezuela, but on Mexico. And Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a frequent critic of the president within his own party, expressed skepticism over the administration\u2019s characterization of the attack as an \u201carrest with military support.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cMeanwhile,\u201d Massie wrote, \u201cTrump announces he\u2019s taken over the country and will run it until he finds someone suitable to replace him. Added bonus: says American oil companies will get to exploit the oil.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), a former national security official in the Obama administration, accused Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of \u201cblatantly\u201d lying to Congress, saying the administration officials had assured lawmakers that the goal in Venezuela was not regime change. Kim said the Trump administration plan to run Venezuela was \u201cdisastrous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe American people deserve a government focused on running our own country, not the folly of trying to run another,\u201d Kim wrote on social media.<\/p>\n
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) dismissed the administration\u2019s justification of the mission, stating on social media, \u201cit\u2019s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn\u2019t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month,\u201d referencing Trump\u2019s recent pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about oil and regime change,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who represents a district with a large Venezuelan population, said she wants to know why Congress and the American people were \u201cbypassed in this effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe absence of congressional involvement prior to this action risks the continuation of the illegitimate Venezuelan regime,\u201d Wasserman Schultz wrote on social media.<\/p>\n
Republicans largely backed the Trump administration\u2019s action, but some did express some hesitancy about the attack\u2019s potential implications.<\/p>\n
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in a social media post that Maduro\u2019s capture was \u201cgreat for the future of Venezuelans and the region\u201d \u2014 but raised concerns that other world leaders may follow the example in a way that may clash with U.S. interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy main concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan,\u201d Bacon said. \u201cFreedom and rule of law were defended last night, but dictators will try to exploit this to rationalize their selfish objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the Trump administration is working to schedule briefings for members next week, when lawmakers are expected to return to Washington.<\/p>\n
Tense hours in capital after attack<\/p>\n
In Caracas on Saturday, the mood was tense. Long lines formed at supermarkets and pharmacies as shoppers, fearful of uncertainty, stocked up on essentials.<\/p>\n
Maduro\u2019s supporters gathered throughout the city, many bearing arms, but seemed unsure of what to do next. Across Latin America, reaction to the U.S. operation was mixed. Right-leaning allies of Trump including Argentina\u2019s Javier Milei and Ecuador\u2019s Daniel Noboa backed the U.S. attack, while leftists broadly condemned it.<\/p>\n
Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized an \u201caggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and Latin America\u201d and said he was ordering the deployment of the Colombian armed forces along his nation\u2019s 1,300-mile-long border with Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Brazilian President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva said that the U.S. \u201ccrossed an unacceptable line\u201d and compared the action to remove Maduro to \u201cthe darkest moments of [U.S.] interference in Latin America and the Caribbean.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, meanwhile, boasted that the U.S. operation in Venezuela would help reassert U.S. dominance in Latin America.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerican dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are reasserting American power in a very powerful way in our home region.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0An audacious overnight raid by elite U.S. forces that seized Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro from his bedroom in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7625,61898,7363,63061,14019,48,52,51,47,50,49,62984,6843,3020,595,427,1519,63060,2281,435,9298],"class_list":["post-119052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-america","tag-caracas","tag-country","tag-dan-caine","tag-fox-news","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-maduro","tag-operation","tag-president-trump","tag-saturday","tag-team","tag-trump","tag-u-s-aircraft","tag-u-s","tag-united-states","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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