News

The Capture of Nicolás Maduro

Akilan Subramaniyan

Volume 6 Issue 3

Image Provided by Akilan Subramaniyan

It began and finished before the break of dawn, before any of us knew. Operation Absolute Resolve by the United States rattled the globe, specifically, Venezuela. It resulted in the capture of the controversial Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro. How did the U.S. pull off such a remarkable mission? How did the U.S. military snatch an active president from right inside his palace? We’ll discuss these and more questions about Maduro and the aftermath of the mission as we put the pieces of this operation together.

Nicolás Maduro, born on November 23, 1962, in Caracas, Venezuela, didn’t grow up in a rich family. Maduro had an early appeal toward leftist politics, and he surprisingly worked as a bus driver. Maduro and Cilia Flores, his future wife, supported the release of Hugo Chávez, who was imprisoned in 1992. After Chávez’s release in 1994, Maduro joined an assembly that redrafted the constitution in 1999, which was a component in Chávez’s rise to power. In addition, Maduro served in the unicameral National Assembly before becoming foreign minister. Chávez became president in 2012, and Maduro became vice president, while Flores became attorney general. Then, Chávez named Maduro as his successor. When Chávez died, a special election was conducted to see who would serve the rest of his term with Maduro winning with a very small margin. This marked the start of Maduro’s regime (Britannica).

So, what did he do in his regime that led to his capture? First, he was accused of being a dictator. During his reign, the Venezuelan people protested and disliked their leader. When a petition for a recall referendum was held against Maduro in August 2016, the number of valid signatures needed to move to the next stage doubled. An opinion poll was also conducted, and many Venezuelans wanted to take Maduro out of power. Both results show a majority of Venezuelans favored overthrowing Maduro. The next step in the petition was to collect about 4 million signatures. However, lower courts decided that the petition was fraudulent before the collection of signatures even started. Just like this, many elections, ballots, and votes have been accused of manipulation and false accusations to keep Maduro in charge. Furthermore, his regime had left Venezuela broken, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The country experienced hyperinflation and hundreds of thousands of deaths. Maduro even rejected relief aid from countries. Besides domestic issues, the international community was displeased with Maduro’s rule. Many countries favored Juan Guaidó, Maduro’s opponent, as the country's acting president (Britannica).

We are still not counting the allegations against Maduro, which include drug trafficking, narcoterrorism, criminal conspiracy, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. According to U.S. President Trump, as reported by USA Today, “The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly illicit drugs into the United States,” (Jansen).

Now that we’ve discussed why Maduro was captured, let’s dive into the United States’ preplanning before the mission. The United States first step was establishing a naval quarantine along Venezuela’s coast. Warships like the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group were in the Caribbean Sea. In the meantime, the C.I.A. intertwined itself into Maduro’s close circle and observed and reported back on his every move. They even reported back intelligence about his pets, what he wore, where he slept, and what he ate. This gave a clear picture of Maduro’s “Pattern of Life,” according to AiTelly, a YouTube channel. Now, the U.S. just had to find a time when Maduro would be exposed and stay put. Nonetheless, Delta Force operators—one of the most elite special forces in the world—would be participating in this operation, training in an exact replica of Maduro’s shelter. They practiced so much that they could do the raid in their sleep. The U.S. was preparing for one of the most controversial missions that would change geopolitics in the area overnight (AiTelly).

After getting a deep understanding of everything that happened before Operation Absolute Resolve, it’s now time to examine how the U.S. conducted this mission. Although the operation was delayed for several days due to bad weather, President Trump issued the last order to begin on Friday, 10:46 p.m. The mission officially started at 4:30 p.m. To start, the U.S. cut power to large portions of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, through a cyberoperation. This will blanket any U.S. aircraft and make it difficult to detect. According to The New York Times, “More than 150 military aircraft, including drones, fighter planes and bombers, took part in the mission, taking off from 20 different military bases and Navy ships.” The first strike consisted of F-35 fighter jets that punched into Venezuela with one objective: clear a path for the Delta Force operators. They did this by attacking military and air installations, hitting both Russian S-300 missiles and anti-air defense. Bombers and drones also took part in creating a path for the operators (Barnes et al.; AiTelly).

Soon, U.S. helicopters and Delta Force operators entered Venezuela. The skilled operators were transported by the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment in MH-60 and MH-47 helicopters. This unit is capable of risky, near-ground, night missions like this one. In the meantime, F-35s hit Fuerte Tiuna, a major command center for the Venezuelans. The jets also struck La Carlota Air Base, which weakened Venezuelan air support. With Venezuela’s power to strike back weakened, Delta Force operators made their way to Fuerte Tiuna, where Maduro was located. Once they reached the secure building where Maduro was sheltered, the Venezuelan Presidential Guard was alerted. The guard tried to fight back, but it wasn’t enough against the U.S. helicopters (Barnes et al.; AiTelly).

Attack helicopters, which escorted the Delta operators, provided covering fire, suppressing attackers. This gave the perfect shield for the operators to slip in. They were swift, capturing Maduro before he or his protection team could react. Maduro and his wife were quickly detained. Soon after, the helicopter group, now with Maduro, escaped Venezuela (Barnes et al.; AiTelly).

Just like that, the U.S. had accomplished a mission that would single-handedly alter geopolitics in the area (AiTelly). So, what happened to Maduro? After being captured, he was transferred to the USS Iwo Jima, a U.S. warship in the Caribbean. Maduro and his wife were soon moved to a U.S. Navy base, Guantanamo Bay. There, the couple was placed on a Boeing 757 government plane by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I). The plane took off and landed at an airport north of Manhattan, which is controlled by the U.S. military (Barnes et al.). Maduro and his wife were placed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Soon after, Maduro and his wife faced terrorism charges and were put on trial. Both pleaded not guilty (Walsh et al.). On the other hand, Venezuelans reported low-flying helicopters and explosions around Caracas on the day of the mission (AiTelly). The status of Venezuela is now uncertain, but Trump declared that the U.S. will be running Venezuela (Kinnard and Price). The current leader of Venezuela is Delcy Rodríguez (Dias). However, Trump has a special interest in the country’s struggling oil industry and wants U.S. oil companies to run it (Britannica)

In conclusion, we’ve extensively talked about who Maduro is, his capture, and the aftermath that ensued. Something that we can take away from this risky mission is how quickly and tactically the U.S. conducted it. It used every ounce of American technology and expertise. To be honest, the mission seems like it came right out of a Hollywood movie! As for Maduro, he will most likely be facing jail time. Although Maduro is no longer in power, many drug organizations, which the U.S. is against, are still intact and operating. This presents a new question about the possible invasion of the country. It’s now up to the international community to stabilize Venezuela after years of ill-treatment. Only time will tell.