Fireplace at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest navy advanced, is seen from a distance after a sequence of explosions in Caracas on January 3, 2026.
STR/AFP through Getty Photographs
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STR/AFP through Getty Photographs
This can be a creating story.
President Trump claimed in a single day that america carried out airstrikes in Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, following a sequence of explosions and fires reported round Caracas within the early hours of the morning.
In a put up on Fact Social printed early Saturday morning, Trump mentioned the U.S. had “efficiently carried out a large-scale strike in opposition to Venezuela and its chief, President Nicolas Maduro,” including that Maduro and his spouse had been captured and flown in another country. Trump mentioned the operation was performed “at the side of U.S. Legislation Enforcement” and introduced a information convention for 11 a.m.EST at Mar-a-Lago.
The Venezuelan authorities swiftly accused america of launching what it referred to as a “grave navy aggression” in opposition to the nation. In a press release posted on Telegram, the federal government mentioned U.S. forces focused civilian and navy places in Caracas in addition to within the close by states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira, calling the alleged assault a “flagrant violation” of the United Nations Constitution.
Movies circulating on social media platforms and first-person accounts point out the blasts started round 2 a.m. native time (1 a.m. EST).
A journalist in Caracas, who NPR aren’t naming for security causes, informed me they woke as much as two explosions at La Carlota navy airport, situated throughout the road from their dwelling. They noticed two fires on the runway that had been rapidly extinguished. Instantly afterward, they reported listening to related detonations in different elements of the town and planes flying low over Caracas for at the least an hour.
Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying plane had been heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026.
Matias Delacroix/AP
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Matias Delacroix/AP
Many Venezuelan’s have been sharing movies — which NPR has not independently verified — displaying a number of explosions throughout the metropolitan space, together with close to a navy base near the presidential palace, Miraflores.
The explosions come as america has been growing strain on the federal government of Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has accused Maduro of main a drug-trafficking group generally known as the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns.
Since late August, the U.S. has deployed plane carriers and warships to the Caribbean. The U.S. navy has struck dozens of small boats within the Caribbean and the Pacific it claimed had been transporting medicine towards the U.S. A minimum of 115 folks have been killed in at the least 35 identified strikes on the vessels.
Maduro has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to take away him from energy in an effort to achieve entry to Venezuela’s huge oil reserves, among the many largest on the planet.
Regional response has been swift. Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel, an in depth ally of Venezuela that relies upon closely on its oil, denounced the assault as “prison.” Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro mentioned his forces are deploying to the Venezuelan border and promised extra help “within the occasion of an enormous inflow of refugees.” Against this, Argentina’s President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, praised the operation, posting on X: “Freedom lives.”
