Maduro’s capture in pictures and maps

The United States says its military operation to capture the Venezuelan president took months of planning, but when Donald Trump gave the order to launch it, “Operation Absolute Resolve” lasted only about 150 minutes.

The surprise attack on Saturday morning marked an unprecedented event in modern politics and resulted in the arrest of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Captured by troops of an elite US Army unit while trying to flee to a fortified safe, the two men are now being held in a New York detention center and face narcoterrorism charges.

As the sun rose Saturday, the scale of the military operation in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, was clear.

Photos of Fuerte Tiuna, a huge military compound where top government officials live, show bombed buildings and charred, smoking cars.

It was in this complex that Maduro and his wife were captured, Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández told the Associated Press news agency.

Operation Absolute Resolve began with reports of explosions around 2:00 a.m. in Caracas (06:00 GMT).

The United States cut off power to the city, Trump has since said, calling it “dark and deadly.”

The goal was to disable Venezuela’s air defenses and clear the way for U.S. military helicopters to reach Fuerte Tiuna.

“We felt we had totally maintained the element of surprise,” said Gen. Dan Caine, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer.

The BBC verified five strike locations, including the compound, a port and an airport. Photos show Fuerte Tiuna on fire, with huge flames visible for miles.

Venezuelans described how U.S. military helicopters flew low over Caracas, heading toward Fuerte Tiuna.

Some helicopters came under fire but were still able to fly, General Caine said.

“There was a lot of gunfire,” Trump added.

Once on the ground, troops from the U.S. Army’s Delta Force, an elite special forces unit, moved quickly.

They gained access to the compound at 2:01 a.m. local time, and the Maduros “gave up” without a struggle, General Caine said.

But Trump gave more details. The Maduros tried to flee to a safe place, the US president explained, describing it as a military “fortress”.

“The safe place is all steel, and he couldn’t make it to the door because our guys were too fast.

“It was a very thick door, a very heavy door,” Trump told reporters. “He managed to reach the door. He couldn’t close it.”

But even if they had managed to get into the safe, Trump said the troops could have opened it in about “47 seconds.”

Now detained in the United States, Nicolás Maduro and his wife were transported some 3,400 km to New York.

They were flown out of Caracas by helicopter and taken aboard the USS Iwo Jima, a warship stationed in the Caribbean. The team was back “above water” at 4:29 a.m., General Caine said.

It was on board the ship that we obtained one of the defining images of the entire operation: Maduro handcuffed, wearing hearing protection and a sort of blindfold that looked like black sunglasses.

From the USS Iwo Jima, he was first flown to the US Navy base at Guantánamo Bay.

The Maduros were then flown aboard a government plane to Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York, and then by helicopter to Manhattan.

On Saturday, a video was released showing Maduro at the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) headquarters in New York.

He and Cilia Flores are now being held in a city detention center.

They were charged with conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism and importation of cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.

“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil, in American courts,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.