President Donald Trump, speaking on Fox News, said no US troops were killed, although some service members may have been injured. General Dan Caine said helicopters extracting Maduro came under fire, and one aircraft was hit but “remained flyable”.

WHERE THE DEADLIEST DAMAGE OCCURRED

In Catia La Mar, a low-income area near Caracas airport, an airstrike hit a three-storey residential building, destroying an exterior wall.

The blast killed 80-year-old Rosa González and seriously injured another resident, her family told The New York Times. Her nephew, Wilman González, said the explosion happened at around 2 a.m. He showed journalists the point of impact and said he did not know where he would live now.

Residents gathered quietly outside the building. Some prayed, while others expressed anger. A neighbour named Jorge, aged 70, said he lost everything in the strike. Another resident, Javier, blamed what he described as greed connected to Venezuela’s oil fields.

Locals said four men tried to rescue González and took her to hospital by motorbike, but she was declared dead on arrival. Another woman survived but was reported to be in critical condition.

HOW THE OPERATION WAS CARRIED OUT

More than 150 American aircraft were deployed to disable Venezuelan air defences before helicopters delivered troops to Maduro’s compound.

The raid began at 2 a.m. local time and lasted two hours and twenty minutes. Maduro and his wife were then flown to New York City to face federal drug charges under a new indictment.

WHO CLAIMS POWER IN VENEZUELA NOW

After the attack, Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president at a private ceremony in Caracas.

“There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros,” she said in a national address, quoted by The New York Times.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado called for Edmundo González to be recognised as president and said the opposition was prepared “to enforce our mandate and take power.”

President Trump said his secretary of state Marco Rubio had spoken with Rodríguez and that “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.” He said Machado did not have enough support to lead the country.

WHY THE UNITED STATES SAYS IT INTERVENED

A federal court in New York has charged Maduro, his wife and four others with offences including narco-terrorism and cocaine conspiracy, similar to an earlier 2020 indictment.

At his news conference, President Trump said the United States would “run the country” until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” is put in place. He also spoke about opening Venezuela’s state-controlled oil sector to US companies.

“We are going to run the country right. It’s going to make a lot of money,” he said.

REACTION INSIDE VENEZUELA

State-run television showed anti-US protests in several cities, including Caracas, where Maduro supporters called the raid illegal and described his transfer as kidnapping.

The Times also reported that the capture was supported by a CIA source inside the Venezuelan government who had tracked Maduro’s movements.

Before the strike, the US military had built up troops, ships and aircraft in the Caribbean and carried out operations against vessels and tankers linked to Venezuela, disrupting the country’s oil revenues.

There were no clear signs of a US military occupation on Saturday afternoon, and Maduro-aligned officials continued to appear in government roles.

Both Rodríguez and the opposition are now pressing competing claims to power, while the United States says it will oversee a transition process.