News broke early Saturday of a U.S. military operation in the heart of Venezuela, an assault involving bombings against Caracas and three other states that culminated in the capture of its president.
The initial, chaotic announcements from Washington and Caracas reveal a crisis escalating by the minute, with reports of soldiers and civilians killed.
From the U.S. perspective, the operation was a clear military success. In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump announced that the “United States has successfully carried out a large-scale attack against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who, along with his wife, has been captured and removed from the country.”
The Venezuelan government, however, frames the exact same event not as an attack, but as an abduction amidst a widespread assault motivated by “U.S. energy greed.” Citing the bombings and the killing of civilians, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez labeled the operation a “kidnapping” and a “brutal, savage form of aggression.”
The situation now provides a strategic foundation for Venezuela’s entire response.
Flowing directly from the foreign assault, Vice President Rodriguez confirmed the president’s standing orders were now in effect, a two-pronged call for resistance.
“The first thing President Maduro told the people of Venezuela was ‘people to the streets,’ activated as militia, activating all the Nation’s comprehensive defense plans,”
In addition to this popular mobilization, Rodriguez called for a “perfect fusion of police and military” to defend the homeland.
The Venezuelan government has demanded evidence that its leaders are alive.