President Trump launched a “large-scale strike” into Venezuela on January 3, 2026, capturing its President Nicolás Maduro in the largest U.S. military intervention in Latin America since 1989.
Trump said the U.S. will indefinitely run Venezuela, and its oil industry, until a “proper transition can take place”.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken from their home and brought to the U.S. on a military warship as explosions swept through Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. They currently await trial in a New York City jail, accused of narcoterrorism and drug trafficking.
Since September 2025, the U.S. military has used these allegations to conduct dozens of air strikes off Venezuela’s coast, killing over 100 people. Amid months of escalating tensions, U.S. intelligence agencies began secretly planning for Maduro’s capture.
The Venezuelan government, now led by Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, called the invasion an “imperialist attack” and urged people to take to the streets. Rodríguez accused the White House of pursuing regime change to seize control of Venezuela’s oil reserves, which may be the largest in the world.
What does Trump want from Venezuela?
Trump said he will personally choose which U.S. oil companies can now move into Venezuela and sell “large amounts” of oil to make money for the country and for the U.S. as “reimbursement”. Trump previously claimed that Venezuela “stole” U.S. oil when the country assumed greater control of its energy sector in 2007, giving less power to foreign companies.
Trump also said these companies will invest billions of dollars to “fix the badly broken infrastructure” of Venezuela’s oil industry, a process experts predict will likely take years and be hindered by political instability. Some oil companies have already declined the deal, warning that Venezuela is “uninvestible” in its current state.
How will the U.S. “run” Venezuela?
Trump has not been clear about how the U.S. will directly govern Venezuela, but has already threatened additional strikes and claimed its new president would remain in power only if she “does what we want”.
He said Rodríguez would “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she did not comply with the White House’s demands. Some Democrat and Republican lawmakers are concerned that Trump’s actions could drag the U.S. into a long, costly new war.
Rodríguez has since agreed to cooperate with the White House, but said it was only because the “threats and blackmail are constant”. The Venezuelan legislature advanced a bill on Jan. 22 to loosen state control over its oil sector, and U.S. diplomats began traveling to Venezuela on Jan. 9 to look into reopening the embassy in Caracas.
The U.S. embassy in Venezuela has been shut since the first Trump administration refused to recognize Maduro as President in 2019. The White House declared its support for protesters in Venezuela who called Maduro a dictator and alleged he stole his last election.
Venezuelans who celebrated Maduro’s capture have now criticized the White House for keeping Maduro’s government in control instead of choosing new leadership.
Several people involved in the decision have told the New York Times that Rodríguez was chosen because the White House thought she would protect and champion U.S. oil investments.
What does Maduro face trial for?
The Justice Department’s indictment accuses Maduro and his allies of running a “corrupt, illegitimate government” that has partnered with drug traffickers and terrorist groups to bring cocaine into the U.S.
Trump declared an “armed conflict” with Venezuelan drug cartels in October 2025 and claimed Maduro is behind one of those groups, Cartel de los Soles. The Justice Department has since backed off this claim, as some experts and law enforcement officials believe Cartel de los Soles is not a real group, but a slang term for Venezuelan generals corrupted by drug money.
Maduro has long accused the White House of using drugs as an excuse to seize control of Venezuelan oil. Venezuela is not a prominent supplier of cocaine to the U.S. and is a relatively minor player in global drug trafficking.
He and his wife pleaded “not guilty” to the Justice Department’s charges on January 5.