Venezuela’s ousted president, Nicolás Maduro, is scheduled to appear before a judge in New York on Monday to face drug and weapons charges, two days after he was captured in a U.S. military raid on Caracas.
The fallout for Venezuela is still far from clear. Its new leader, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, raised the prospect of dialogue with the United States on Sunday — an apparent shift from the defiance that top Venezuelan officials had shown in the face of President Trump’s claim that the United States would “run” the country for the foreseeable future and reclaim American oil interests there.
The U.S. raid followed a monthslong campaign by the Trump administration to oust the authoritarian leader.
Here’s what we know:
What happened?
The United States carried out “a large scale strike against Venezuela” in which Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured, Mr. Trump said.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference that Mr. Trump ordered the operation late Friday. The mission involved 150 aircraft that worked to dismantle Venezuelan air defenses so military helicopters could deliver troops to Caracas, the country’s capital, he said.
The mission took about two hours and 20 minutes and continued into early Saturday, when Mr. Maduro and Ms. Flores “gave up,” General Caine said.
U.S. forces encountered significant resistance, Mr. Trump said. At least 80 people were killed, including military personnel and civilians, according to a senior Venezuelan official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe preliminary reports. Cuban state media reported that 32 Cubans were killed in the U.S. attacks on Saturday. President Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba said they were from Cuba’s armed forces or its interior ministry.
No Americans were killed, Mr. Trump said. Two U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said that about half a dozen soldiers were injured in the operation.
Did Trump have the authority to capture Maduro?
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a news conference on Saturday that it would not have been possible to inform U.S. lawmakers in advance of the strike. He and Mr. Trump described the mission as a law enforcement operation rather than a military action, which would have required greater congressional oversight.
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On Monday, the United Nations Security Council will convene an emergency meeting to discuss the attack. Trump administration officials also plan to brief leaders in Congress, after Democrats called on the administration to explain its legal justification for the raid and its plan for the region.
Mr. Maduro, a self-described socialist, had led Venezuela since 2013. The Biden administration accused him of stealing the 2024 election that kept him in power.
Who is in charge of Venezuela now?
The country’s new leader is Delcy Rodríguez. She was Mr. Maduro’s vice president, known as an economic troubleshooter.
Mr. Trump said on Saturday that the United States intended to “run the country” until a transition of power could take place. He said Ms. Rodríguez was “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
On Sunday, Mr. Rubio said the U.S. military would maintain a “quarantine” around Venezuela to prevent the entry and exit of oil tankers under American sanctions and to maintain “leverage” over the country.
Ms. Rodríguez was initially scathing in her criticism of the Trump administration after the raid in Caracas. But on Sunday night, she appeared to soften her tone, raising the prospect of dialogue with the administration.
Separately, Venezuela’s main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has asked that her political ally, Edmundo González, be recognized as Venezuela’s president immediately.
In his own video statement on Sunday, Mr. González referred to himself as the president of Venezuela and called for political prisoners to be released.
What will happen to Maduro?
Mr. Maduro and Ms. Flores landed in New York on Saturday afternoon and are scheduled to make their first appearance in court on Monday at noon, according to the Federal District Court in Manhattan. An unsealed indictment charged him with narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracies and possession of machine guns — charges that would carry lengthy prison sentences if he were convicted.
The indictment appears similar to a 2020 indictment against Mr. Maduro that accused him of overseeing a violent drug organization known as Cartel de los Soles.
Analysts have said that Cartel de Los Soles does not exist as a literal organization, and that the term has been used more broadly to describe the alleged involvement of high-ranking Venezuelan military officers in the drug trade. However, no evidence has been publicly disclosed showing Mr. Maduro directing the effort.
Amanda Holpuch and Alexandra E. Petri contributed reporting.