In October, Donald Trump authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to carry out covert operations in Venezuela. At the same time, the tenant of the White House decided to open a secret communication channel with prominent members of Chavismo to negotiate the immediate departure of Nicolas Maduroto whom he offered protected exile in Türkiye or Qatar, according to the Miami Herald.
But the repeated refusals of the Venezuelan president and his almost daily dances in front of television cameras They exhausted Trump’s patience, who gave the green light in the early hours of Saturday to the operation to capture him in Caracas, his greatest show of force since he occupied the Oval Office.
Dubbed Absolute Resolve, the mission mobilized more than 150 aircraft – a variety of fighters, specialized electronic jamming aircraft, B-1 supersonic bombers and others designed to detect early warning of missile launches –, which took off from twenty different military bases controlled by the United States in the Western Hemisphere.
A previous cyber attack turned off the lights of Caracas, and the aircraft managed to disable the air defenses of the Venezuelan capital in record time. Without opposition, the MH-47 Chinooks and MH-60 Black Hawks helicopters transported the elite Delta Force troops to the fortified complex where Maduro and his wife were resting. Cilia Flores.
They both jumped out of bed to try to reach an armored room inside the bunker. “They didn’t make it,” Trump would boast hours later on the live broadcast of Fox News. Even if they had succeeded, the command had blowtorches to cut steel barriers.
The presidential couple was transferred by helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship deployed off the coast of Venezuela. The Navy ship took them to Guantánamo Island, and from there to New York, where this Monday they will appear before the Justice, which accuses them of narcoterrorism, armed conspiracy and other crimes against the national security of the United States.
Image of Nicolás Maduro shared by Donald Trump.
Months of preparation
The North American forces prepared for the operation for months. To such an extent that they rebuilt Maduro’s bunker. They made a replica on the same scale to rehearse the capture.
The simulations were reminiscent of those carried out fifteen years ago to end the life of the Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Ladenhidden in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. “In fact, they built a house identical to the one they were going to enter, with all the safes and all the steel everywhere,” Trump himself explained in Fox News.
Two weeks before the operation, the United States Army deployed two units of the Delta Force to Venezuelan territory to x-ray Maduro’s steps. They outlined a “pattern of life” for the Chavista leader. “They knew how he moved, where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore, what his pets were,” boasted the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dan Cainefrom Mar-a-Lago.
According to The Washington Postthe CIA also had a source within the Venezuelan government who shared sensitive information about Maduro.
Trump offered the first details of the operation on Saturday morning, on the program Fox & Friends Weekend. The president confessed by telephone that he followed Maduro’s capture live from a room set up in his Palm Beach mansion. A private replica of the War Room from the White House.
“They were waiting for us,” said Trump, who compared the experience to watching “a television show”: “They knew we were coming, so they were in what is called an alert position, but they were completely overwhelmed and quickly incapacitated.”
The mission lasted two hours and 20 minutes. During that period, the United States Army bombed the La Carlota air base, the port of La Guaira and the Higuerote airport, in addition to the Cuartel de la Montaña, a military museum installed at the top of a popular neighborhood where, in theory, the mortal remains of Hugo Chavez. A location of enormous symbolism for the regime.
But the main objective of the operation was Fuerte Tiuna, headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, residence of dozens of senior commanders and the main airport of the Air Force. It was the fortified complex where the Chavista leader and Cilia Flores stayed.
Victim balance
Maduro and his wife “surrendered.” But just a few minutes before, the US elite forces had encountered resistance in the Sixth Presidential Security Battalion, in charge of protecting the Chavista leader. The soldiers of the Delta Force “murdered in cold blood” the fifteen members of the command, the Venezuelan Minister of Defense denounced this Sunday. Vladimir Padrino López.
The dead were young soldiers. They were lieutenants, corporals, honor guards, sergeants and even students who had not yet graduated from the Military Academy, according to the newspaper. TalCual. The Venezuelan independent media was able to confirm the death of at least 25 people in the operation. Among the victims is Juan EscalonaMaduro’s escort and deputy of the ruling party.
Instead, The New York Times The death toll is estimated at 80. In the balance there are both civilians and military. According to Trump, there are no American soldiers among the confirmed casualties, although about six were wounded. None serious.
During Saturday’s press conference at Mar-a-Lago, the White House tenant boasted of other military operations carried out under his command, such as the bombing in Baghdad that in 2020 killed Qassem Soleimanileader of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; such as the 2019 attack in Idlib against Abu Bakr al-Baghdadileader of Daesh; or like the recent operation against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
He did not remember, however, the capture of Bin Laden, a model that inspired the capture of Maduro. Maybe because it was Barack Obama who led the operation that liquidated the mastermind of 9/11.