Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro has been captured after the US conducted a ‘large scale strike’ on country

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been captured and flown from the country, President Donald Trump announced early Saturday after confirming that the U.S. forces conducted what he called "a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader."

In a post on social media, Trump said Maduro's wife was also seized in the operation conducted along with U.S. law enforcement. Trump said he planned to deliver a statement later Saturday morning.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - At least seven explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the capital of Venezuela early Saturday, with the government of leader Nicolás Maduro accusing the United States of attacking civilian and military installations following a monthslong pressure campaign.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ban on U.S. commercial flights in Venezuelan airspace because of "ongoing military activity" ahead of the explosions in Caracas. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. about its role, the targets or the purpose of the strikes.

The explosions in Caracas sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report hearing and seeing the blasts. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties. The apparent attack lasted less than 30 minutes, but it was unclear if more actions were ahead. Two hours later, parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.

Smoke could be seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.

"The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes," said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice trembling. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. "We felt like the air was hitting us."

No immediate response from the US

The explosions come as the Trump administration has escalated a pressure campaign on Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States. The CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels in what was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.

President Donald Trump for months had threatened that he could soon order strikes on targets on Venezuelan land following months of attacks on boats accused of carrying drugs. Maduro has decried the U.S. military operations as a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.

Pentagon referred requests for comment to the White House, which didn't immediately return calls or emails seeking comment. Calls to the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in the region, went unanswered.

Trump is at his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has spent the last two weeks for the holiday season. His public schedule showed he was set to receive an intelligence briefing on Friday evening, hours before the reported strikes. He offered no immediate comment on social media.

Venezuelan president calls people to action

Venezuela's government called on its supporters to take to the streets.

"People to the streets!" it said in a statement. "The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack."

The statement added that Maduro had "ordered all national defense plans to be implemented" and declared "a state of external disturbance." That state of emergency gives him the power to suspend people's rights and expand the role of the armed forces.

The website of the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, a post that has been closed since 2019, issued a warning to American citizens in the country, saying it was "aware of reports of explosions in and around Caracas."

"U.S. citizens in Venezuela should shelter in place," the warning said.

The FAA warned all commercial and private U.S. pilots that the airspace over Venezuela and the small island nation of Curacao, just off the coast of the country to the north, was off-limits "due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity."

Brewing tensions

The explosions come amid the Trump administration's escalating military actions in the region. The U.S. has seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump ordered a blockade of others in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.

The U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

They followed a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America, including the arrival in November of the nation's most advanced aircraft carrier, which added thousands more troops to what was already the largest military presence in the region in generations.

Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels.

On Friday, Venezuela said it was open to negotiating an agreement with the U.S. to combat drug trafficking.

Maduro also said in a pretaped interview aired Thursday that the U.S. wants to force a government change in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves through the pressure campaign.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television reported on the explosions in Caracas on Saturday, showing images of the Venezuelan capital. Iran has been close to Venezuela for years, in part due to their shared enmity of the U.S.