The United States will take control of Venezuela until a safe and carefully managed transfer of power to the next leader is completed, U.S. President Donald Trump said this evening at a press conference.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declared a state of emergency in the country on Saturday and condemned what he described as an “extremely serious military aggression” by the United States in Caracas. Meanwhile, Trump announced that Maduro had been removed from the country.
Reports from journalists and posts circulating on social media indicate that several explosions were heard in the Venezuelan capital, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers.
“Venezuela rejects, does not recognize, and condemns before the international community the extremely serious military aggression carried out by the current government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and its population,” Maduro’s government said in a statement.
The president has “ordered the implementation of all national defense plans” and declared a state of “external disturbance,” the government added.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that U.S. forces had captured Venezuelan President Maduro following what he described as a “large-scale strike” in Caracas.
“The United States has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who, together with his wife, has been captured and flown out of the country,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.
It has been reported that smoke was seen rising from a hangar at a military base in Caracas, while power was cut to another military facility.
The strikes were carried out at a time when U.S. armed forces have intensified operations against vessels suspected of drug trafficking. On Friday, Venezuela announced it was ready to hold talks with the United States on an agreement to combat drug smuggling.
In an interview broadcast on Thursday, Maduro said the United States is seeking to force a change of government in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves through a months-long pressure campaign that began with the large-scale deployment of military forces in the Caribbean in August.
The United States has accused Maduro of narco-terrorism.
President Trump has for months threatened that he could soon order strikes on targets inside Venezuelan territory. The United States has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the Venezuelan coast, and Trump has ordered other tankers to be blocked, apparently in an effort to restrict the South American country’s economy.
Since September, U.S. armed forces have carried out numerous strikes on vessels in both the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, targeting what Washington claims are drug smugglers.
However, the U.S. administration has provided no evidence that the vessels were involved in drug trafficking, sparking debate over the legality of the operations.
International law experts and human rights organizations say the strikes appear to constitute extrajudicial killings, a claim Washington denies.
According to information released by the U.S. military, at least 115 people have been killed in at least 305 strikes during the lethal maritime campaign.
These attacks followed a significant buildup of U.S. forces in waters off the coast of South America, including the deployment in November of the U.S. Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, adding thousands more troops to what is already the largest U.S. military presence in the region in several generations.
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