President Donald Trump published a photo on his Truth Social account on Saturday appearing to show arrested Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro aboard a U.S. aircraft, en route to face criminal drug-trafficking charges in America.
According to Trump, the Venezuelan socialist was riding aboard the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship presumably present in the Caribbean as part of “Operation Southern Spear,” the Pentagon’s mission to eliminate illicit drug trafficking vessels in international waters off the coast of Florida. Much of that trafficking, American and other international officials have documented, is fueled by the work of the Cartel de los Soles, a multicontinental cocaine trafficking syndicate that Maduro leads, according to law enforcement.
Maduro, the longtime dictator of the country, was apprehended by American forces in Caracas in the early morning hours of Saturday. The United States has long maintained criminal charges against Maduro for his leadership in international drug trafficking and maintained an active $50 million reward for information leading to his capture. It is not clear at press time if anyone has requested the reward for aiding the American mission on Saturday.
Following the news of his arrest, alongside wife and “first combatant” Cilia Flores, Attorney General Pam Bondi published an extensive indictment against the dictatorial couple. Among the crimes they face charges for are “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.”
In addition to the Cartel de los Soles leadership, human rights activists have documented over a decade of human rights atrocities orchestrated by the Maduro regime against political dissidents, including children.
During a press conference on Saturday morning following the publication of the photo, President Trump announced that the military intervention to arrest Maduro was extremely successful and did not result in any U.S. military deaths. He suggested that the United States would oversee a transition to the return to constitutional democracy and that, while the United States was hoping for as little involvement as possible, the nation is “ready to do a second wave” of military action. Trump asserted that the second military attack would be “much bigger,” but unlikely given the success of the first strike.
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