Por Allegra Goodwin, Isaac Yee, Avery Schmitz y Thomas Bordeaux, CNN

Una nueva y dramática fase del enfrentamiento entre el presidente Donald Trump y Venezuela comenzó el sábado, cuando Estados Unidos lanzó una serie de ataques a gran escala, seguidos horas después por el anuncio de Trump de que el presidente Nicolás Maduro había sido capturado por las fuerzas estadounidenses y expulsado del país.

Esto es lo que podemos decir sobre la incursión, denominada “Operation Absolute Resolve” por las autoridades estadounidenses, utilizando videos e imágenes verificadas del lugar de los hechos, imágenes satelitales y otra información de fuentes abiertas.

Aunque la planificación de los ataques se había llevado a cabo en secreto desde diciembre, en una conferencia de prensa el sábado desde su club de Mar-a-Lago, Trump declaró que tomó la decisión final de atacar a las 23:46 hora de Venezuela (22:46 ET) del día anterior.

Informes de fuertes explosiones y aeronaves volando a baja altura en Caracas, la capital venezolana, comenzaron a llegar poco antes de las 2:00 a. m., hora local. Un video que muestra múltiples explosiones e incendios provenientes de la zona de la instalación militar de Fuerte Tiuna fue captado a la 1:58 a. m., según metadatos. Un residente local, que pidió permanecer en el anonimato por razones de seguridad, informó a CNN que las explosiones continuaron hasta alrededor de las 3:00 a. m.

CNN verificó ataques aproximadamente a la misma hora contra al menos siete infraestructuras clave, incluyendo el puerto de La Guaira, ubicado a menos de 16 kilómetros al norte del centro de Caracas, y la Base Aérea Generalísimo Francisco de Miranda, conocida como el aeropuerto de La Carlota.

Otros objetivos incluyeron el observatorio astronómico y meteorológico nacional en la capital, así como una antena de comunicaciones al sur de Caracas, que se vio ardiendo en imágenes geolocalizadas por CNN.

En un segundo aeropuerto en Higuerote, a unos 83 kilómetros al este de la capital, unas imágenes dramáticas, verificadas por CNN, mostraron un gran incendio y explosiones que comenzaron poco antes de las 2:00 a. m., según un testigo presencial. En el video se podían ver múltiples bolas de fuego formando un arco en el cielo, compatibles con municiones, como las utilizadas por los sistemas de defensa aérea, que se estaban quemando.

Un residente de Higuerote, un pueblo costero, declaró a CNN que se despertó con lo que inicialmente creyó que eran fuegos artificiales, antes de que más explosiones resonaran por la zona y el cielo se tornara repentinamente rojo.

“En ese momento me di cuenta de que era algo más grave”, dijo el joven de 23 años, quien pidió no ser identificado por razones de seguridad. “Mis vecinos empezaron a gritar y a correr por la calle, así que salí y vi una enorme columna de humo”.

“Se quedó en silencio durante unos 20 minutos y luego pudimos escuchar aviones de nuevo, y luego dos explosiones más”, añadió. “Después de eso, todo temblaba”.

Mientras las explosiones resonaban en Caracas y las ciudades aledañas, una misión separada para capturar al líder venezolano Maduro también estaba en marcha, según Trump, en una conferencia de prensa el sábado desde su club Mar-a-Lago.

El presidente dijo que helicópteros militares estadounidenses aterrizaron a las 2:01 a. m., hora local, mientras Maduro intentaba ingresar a un refugio de acero, pero no pudo cerrar la puerta antes de ser detenido por las fuerzas estadounidenses. En un video verificado por CNN, se ve a los helicópteros dirigiéndose hacia la zona del complejo militar Fuerte Tiuna.

Las fuerzas estadounidenses estaban “sobre el agua” y fuera de Venezuela a las 4:29 a. m., hora local, con “personas acusadas a bordo”, dijo el jefe del Estado Mayor Conjunto, general Dan

By Mauricio Torres, CNN en Español

(CNN) — Following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro during a US military operation in Venezuela, the command of the South American country has fallen into the hands of a woman: Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.

That is what Venezuela’s constitution outlines in its different scenarios anticipating a president’s absence. Under Articles 233 and 234, whether the absence is temporary or absolute, the vice president takes over the presidential duties.

Rodríguez stepped into the role on Saturday afternoon. Hours after the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, she chaired a National Defense Council session, surrounded by other ministers and senior officials, and demanded the couple’s “immediate release” while condemning the US military operation.

Standing before the Venezuelan flag and wearing a stern expression, Rodríguez said the early-morning operation represents a blatant violation of international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty. She added that the action must be rejected by Venezuelans and condemned by governments across Latin America.

“We call on the peoples of the great homeland to remain united, because what was done to Venezuela can be done to anyone. That brutal use of force to bend the will of the people can be carried out against any country,” she told the council in an address broadcast by state television channel VTV.

An official with Maduro’s ‘full trust’

Rodríguez, 56, is from Caracas and studied law at the Central University of Venezuela.

She has spent more than two decades as one of the leading figures of chavismo, the political movement founded by President Hugo Chávez and led by Maduro since Chávez’s death in 2013.

Alongside her brother Jorge Rodríguez, the current president of the National Assembly, she has held various positions of power since the Chávez era. She served as minister of communication and information from 2013 to 2014 and later became foreign minister from 2014 to 2017. In that role, she defended Maduro’s government against international criticism, including allegations of democratic backsliding and human rights abuses in the country.

As foreign minister, Rodríguez represented Venezuela at forums such as the United Nations, where she accused other governments of seeking to undermine her country.

In 2017, Rodríguez became president of the Constituent National Assembly that expanded the government’s powers after the opposition won the 2015 legislative elections. In 2018, Maduro appointed her vice president for his second term. She retained the post during his third presidential term, which began on January 10, 2025, following the controversial July 28, 2024, elections. Until the president’s capture, she served as Venezuela’s chief economic authority and minister of petroleum.

Venezuela’s opposition maintains that the 2024 elections were fraudulent and that Maduro is not a legitimately elected president. They insist that the true winner was former ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia, a position supported by some governments in the region.

José Manuel Romano, a constitutional lawyer and political analyst, told CNN that the positions Rodríguez has held show she is a “very prominent” figure within the Venezuelan government and someone who enjoys the president’s “full trust.”

“The executive vice president of the republic is a highly effective operator, a woman with strong leadership skills for managing teams,” Romano said.

“She is very results-oriented and has significant influence over the entire government apparatus, including the Ministry of Defense. That is very important to note in the current circumstances,” he added.

On the path to an understanding with the US?

Hours after Maduro’s capture, and before Rodríguez addressed the National Defense Council, US Pr

CNN

By Mauricio Torres, CNN en Español

(CNN) — Following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro during a US military operation in Venezuela, the command of the South American country has fallen into the hands of Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.

That is what Venezuela’s constitution outlines in its different scenarios anticipating a president’s absence. Under Articles 233 and 234, whether the absence is temporary or absolute, the vice president takes over the presidential duties.

Rodríguez – also minister for both finance and oil – stepped into the role on Saturday afternoon. Hours after the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, she chaired a National Defense Council session, surrounded by other ministers and senior officials, and demanded the couple’s “immediate release” while condemning the US military operation.

Standing before the Venezuelan flag, Rodríguez said the early-morning operation represents a blatant violation of international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty. She added that the action must be rejected by Venezuelans and condemned by governments across Latin America.

“We call on the peoples of the great homeland to remain united, because what was done to Venezuela can be done to anyone. That brutal use of force to bend the will of the people can be carried out against any country,” she told the council in an address broadcast by state television channel VTV.

An official with Maduro’s ‘full trust’

Rodríguez, 56, is from Caracas and studied law at the Central University of Venezuela.

She has spent more than two decades as one of the leading figures of chavismo, the political movement founded by President Hugo Chávez and led by Maduro since Chávez’s death in 2013.

Alongside her brother Jorge Rodríguez, the current president of the National Assembly, she has held various positions of power since the Chávez era. She served as minister of communication and information from 2013 to 2014 and later became foreign minister from 2014 to 2017. In that role, she defended Maduro’s government against international criticism, including allegations of democratic backsliding and human rights abuses in the country.

As foreign minister, Rodríguez represented Venezuela at forums such as the United Nations, where she accused other governments of seeking to undermine her country.

In 2017, Rodríguez became president of the Constituent National Assembly that expanded the government’s powers after the opposition won the 2015 legislative elections. In 2018, Maduro appointed her vice president for his second term. She retained the post during his third presidential term, which began on January 10, 2025, following the controversial July 28, 2024, elections. Until the president’s capture, she served as Venezuela’s chief economic authority and minister of petroleum.

Venezuela’s opposition maintains that the 2024 elections were fraudulent and that Maduro is not a legitimately elected president. They insist that the true winner was former ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia, a position supported by some governments in the region.

José Manuel Romano, a constitutional lawyer and political analyst, told CNN that the positions Rodríguez has held show she is a “very prominent” figure within the Venezuelan government and someone who enjoys the president’s “full trust.”

“The executive vice president of the republic is a highly effective operator, a woman with strong leadership skills for managing teams,” Romano said.

“She is very results-oriented and has significant influence over

CNN

By Kevin Liptak, Isabelle Khurshudyan, Zachary Cohen, Alayna Treene, Kristen Holmes, CNN

(CNN) — It was just like watching television.

Huddled in a draped-off room at Mar-a-Lago around screens set up for his viewing pleasure — including, according to photos released by the White House, a live feed of social media messages on X — President Donald Trump watched and listened as highly trained American Delta Force soldiers rushed into Nicolás Maduro’s home in Caracas, where the Venezuelan leader was sleeping alongside his wife.

Maduro was quickly dragged into custody as he tried to flee to his steel-enforced safe room.

It was the dramatic culmination of a monthslong campaign whose ultimate goal has long been clear to those involved in its planning: to oust Maduro from power. Trump, who at points along the way voiced misgivings about the potential for unintended consequences and the chances the US could be drawn into a prolonged war, put aside any reservations and gave a green light to the operation in the days before Christmas.

It wasn’t until more than a week later that the weather cleared and conditions were right for the heavily-guarded mission. At 10:46 p.m. ET, after making a shopping excursion for marble and onyx and enjoying dinner on the Mar-a-Lago patio, the president gave the final go-ahead.

“Good luck,” Trump told the assemblage of national security officials who had convened at his gilded private club in South Florida, “and Godspeed.”

American helicopters were soon gliding across the sea, 100 feet above the dark water, toward Caracas. A couple of hours later, Maduro was in US custody, handcuffed, dressed in gray sweatpants and wearing blackout goggles, according to a picture Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday morning.

Trump emerged Saturday to declare the United States would now “run” the country for an indeterminate future, offering strikingly little detail and claiming he wasn’t afraid of “boots on the ground.”

For a president whose political movement was fueled, in part, by resentments over two decades of bloody American foreign intervention, it was a remarkable turnabout. The president mostly glossed over the work that may lie ahead, focusing instead on obtaining access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and repeatedly declining to rule out a more robust US military presence if Maduro’s allies refuse to cede power.

In the hours after the strike, sources around Washington, including congressional staffers and allies of the president, privately voiced concerns about the long-term consequences of the action — both in terms of US national security and the potential political fallout for a president with low-approval ratings whose base has shown little appetite for American intervention abroad.

A strike months in the making

At Trump’s side this week in Florida have been the chief architects of the escalating pressure campaign on Maduro, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and senior adviser Stephen Miller, who were seen at dinner with the president hours before the

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