DICTATOR MADURO ARRESTED BY US FORCES

January 3rd, 2026, may be the first day of the liberation of the people of Venezuela, ravaged for many years by a brutal dictatorship.

Nicolás Maduro has been captured as part of a large‑scale US military operation in Venezuela and transferred out of the country, as publicly confirmed by Donald Trump and multiple international media outlets, although key aspects (such as his exact whereabouts and the institutional situation in Caracas) still remain unclear. Here are the headlines from the main news outlets.

Arrest of Nicolás Maduro, this image has not been verified as authentic, but the news of his arrest in an operation by the United States Army’s Delta Force has been confirmed.

I am sharing here the headlines from the main news outlets:

CNN

• CNN places Maduro’s capture in the context of a US maximum‑pressure campaign that includes sanctions, anti‑narcotics operations and recent covert actions, and reports that he was removed from Venezuela in an operation by elite US forces linked to Delta Force.​

  
  

• It also highlights that the country was already experiencing a serious escalation (detention of US citizens, attacks on infrastructure linked to drug trafficking and the blocking of ships) and that Washington had long been building the legal and political framework to arrest Maduro on charges of narco‑terrorism and drug trafficking.

Fox News

• Fox News reports that the US military launched a “large‑scale strike operation” in the early hours of Saturday against military targets in Venezuela and that, according to Trump, Maduro and his wife were “captured and flown out of the country”.​

  
  

• The channel stresses that Trump announced the success of the operation on Truth Social, that it was carried out in coordination with US security agencies, and that he has scheduled a press conference at Mar‑a‑Lago at 11:00 (local time) to provide more details.

  
  

BBC

• The BBC reports that, according to sources cited by its US partner CBS, Maduro was captured by the US Army’s Delta Force special operations unit, with no US casualties reported in the operation.​

  
  

  In its related coverage, it recalls that Maduro was already facing charges in the US for narco‑terrorism and that Washington had been ramping up pressure for months, including a multimillion‑dollar reward for information leading to his arrest.

  
  

Le Monde

• Le Monde reports that Trump announced a nighttime “American operation” in Venezuela that led to the “capture” of Maduro and his wife, specifying that, according to the president’s statement, both were exfiltrated from the country and that a press conference has been called at Mar‑a‑Lago.​

  
  

• The French daily describes explosions and low‑flying aircraft over Caracas, the Venezuelan government’s denunciation of an “imperialist attack” and the declaration of a state of emergency, noting that it is not clear who now exercises effective power in Venezuela or where exactly Maduro is being held.

  
  

COPE

• COPE reports that Donald Trump has stated that “the United States has successfully carried out a large‑scale attack on Venezuela” and that, as a result, Nicolás Maduro and his wife “have been captured and flown out of the country by plane”, in an operation coordinated with US law‑enforcement agencies.​

  
  

• The station emphasizes that the White House has confirmed Trump gave the order to strike several military targets in Venezuela and that more details are expected at a press conference in Mar‑a‑Lago, while it continues live coverage of the “breaking news” on the internal situation in Venezuela after the operation.