It took the United States two hours and 28 minutes to kidnap President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores early Saturday morning, an extraordinary display of Washington's imperial power that left 30 million Venezuelans shocked and deeply unstable. But the invasion also took months of planning.
The Guardian said the work of the CIA and other US intelligence agencies was decisive for Operation Absolute Resolve. Starting in August, their goal was to establish Maduro's “lifestyle,” or as General Dan Cain, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, described it, “to understand how he moves, where he lives, where he travels, what he eats, what he wears, what kind of pets he keeps.”
As the US has increased its military presence in the Caribbean since September, President Maduro has increased personal security measures to avoid kidnapping or assassination. The Guardian notes that no trace of carefully considered public speeches remains. He frequently changed his sleeping quarters – according to the New York Times, he used six to eight sleeping spaces.
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The president is even more dependent on Cuban counterintelligence and bodyguards, whom he trusts more than the Venezuelans and who are not allowed to use cell phones. However, such measures are not enough. On Friday night, when the weather finally cleared enough for a U.S. Forward Operation, Maduro was at a compound in Fuerte Tiuna, a key military base in Caracas.
Surveillance drones are part of the CIA's operation to monitor Maduro, but after his arrest on Saturday, the US intelligence agency also suddenly revealed that it had a source inside the Venezuelan government – a bold statement that risks revealing his identity, although it could also be a way to undermine confidence that Maduro's successors will have their own security systems, The Guardian commented.
About a quarter of all U.S. Navy warships have been in the Caribbean since November, boosted by the arrival of the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, with about 4,000 sailors and crew on board. But despite being stationed nearby, the US military's goal on the night of the operation was to achieve tactical surprise and air superiority.
Although some preliminary flights and other maneuvers were inevitable, the final launch order was given by US President Donald Trump at 10:46 a.m. Eastern time, or 11:46 a.m. Caracas time. The first step is to clear the air corridor – by defeating Venezuela's air force and air defense – to get the helicopters to transport the elite Delta Force units tasked with dragging Maduro out of bed.
Venezuela is considered to have a capable military by regional standards. Venezuela used its oil resources to purchase two squadrons of Russian Su-30 fighter jets, as well as S-300 and Buk surface-to-air missile systems.
However, The Guardian notes, air bases and communications centers were bombed, possibly by Tomahawk cruise missiles and AGM-88 Harm anti-radiation weapons, specifically designed to detect and destroy air defense systems. It was also reported that F-35s bombed Venezuelan fighter jets on the runway after air defenses were overwhelmed. A total of more than 150 American aircraft participated in the night raid.
Trump also boasted that power was largely shut off in Caracas “because we have certain expertise,” a potential sign of a cyberattack. City residents reported power outages after hearing the first explosion, and satellite images showed that a power plant at the Fuerte Tiuna base had been blown up and was likely caused by active military action rather than sabotage or cyber attack.
After takeoff, Delta Force flew “100 feet above the water” to avoid radar detection, Kane said. Caracas is close to the coast, about 10 miles away, so flight times are relatively short, despite the mountains in between, which the general said helped the helicopters “hide in chaos” until reaching the capital.
A video shot in Caracas shows nine helicopters – modified Black Hawks and twin-rotor Chinooks – flying in formation over the city toward Fuerte Tiuna. None of them were shot down or damaged by Venezuelan air defenses or aircraft, the crackdown was very successful, but as they approached Maduro's residence at 2:01 a.m., they came under fire and one helicopter was damaged, although still able to fly.
Once again, the US military is carefully preparing for critical moments. The United States built an exact replica of Maduro's residence at the Fuerte Tiuna base, the layout and security measures of which appear to have been known to the Americans. The Delta Force team has blowtorches to get through steel doors and an FBI hostage negotiator in case Maduro locks himself inside and refuses to surrender.
Everything went almost according to plan, The Guardian said.
The shooting began when the Delta Force team arrived at the scene. On Sunday, Venezuela's Defense Minister said most of Maduro's security forces were killed. Venezuelan officials said at least 40 people were killed across the country. No American soldiers were killed, although several were injured.
President Maduro, in his final moments in power, was trying to flee to safety when dozens of Delta Force soldiers arrived. According to Trump, Maduro reached the security door but could not close it. “He was dealt with too quickly,” the US president said after Maduro was quickly arrested.
All that was needed was to get Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores out of the country. The helicopters, supported by fighter aircraft, returned to the Caribbean at 4:29 a.m., nearly two and a half hours after arriving at Fuerte Tiuna, before being loaded onto the amphibious ship USS Iwo Jima.
The Guardian commented: “In and of itself, as a military operation, this was certainly a successful, albeit undisguised, display of American power.” But it remains unclear whether this will allow the US to take control of the country or lead to a transition in Venezuela, while the broader political consequences are impossible to predict. British analyst Matthew Saville noted: “The Americans have eliminated a couple. Impressive, but can hardly be called 'beheadings'.”
