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U.S. President Donald Trump announced on January 3, 2026, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, that the United States will govern Venezuela until there is a “safe” and “appropriate” transition.
“We will run the country until we can ensure a safe, proper, and sensible transition. Therefore, we do not want to deal with the arrival of another person only to end up in the same situation we’ve had over the past years,” he said during a press conference at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
“We will run the country until we can ensure a safe, proper, and sensible transition, and it has to be sensible, because that’s what it’s all about,” the president added.
Trump, who did not provide details on how he plans to govern Venezuela or for how long, stated that he wants “peace, freedom, and justice for the great Venezuelan people, including the many Venezuelans who now live in the United States and wish to return to their country.”
He also promised that U.S. oil companies will come to Venezuela to “spend billions of dollars, repair the severely damaged oil infrastructure, and start generating revenue for the country.”
“We cannot risk someone else taking control of Venezuela without considering the welfare of the Venezuelan people for decades; we will not allow that to happen,” he said.
In a prior interview with Fox News, Trump had said he would consider the possibility of Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado assuming power.
In an unprecedented, early-morning operation, U.S. forces infiltrated Venezuela, arrested President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who were transported on a U.S. military vessel to New York to face trial for drug trafficking.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who, according to The New York Times, remains in Caracas, has demanded from Washington “proof of life” for Maduro.
A Demonstration of U.S. Dominance in Latin America
Trump stated that the U.S. military operation in which Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife were detained is a “warning” to other countries and an example that “U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere will no longer be questioned.”
He said the operation to capture President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores took place in “a fortified military stronghold in the heart of Caracas.”
The president did not specify the name of this “stronghold” in the Venezuelan capital, nor whether it was the Miraflores Palace, where the presidential office is located.
Trump stated that the operation was “one of the most impressive, effective, and powerful demonstrations of U.S. military might and competence in American history” and that “all Venezuelan military capabilities were neutralized” during the assault, which included attacks from helicopters in Caracas and surrounding regions.
“It was dark, the lights in Caracas were largely out thanks to a specialized technique we know,” the president explained during a press conference held hours after the operation at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
“It was dark and dangerous,” Trump insisted, praising the bravery of the military personnel who carried out the mission, highlighting that “no U.S. soldiers were killed” and that the U.S. forces did not “lose a single piece of equipment.”
“The dictator and terrorist Nicolás Maduro has finally been overthrown in Venezuela,” Trump warned, celebrating that the people of the South American country “will be free” following the capture of the Venezuelan president by U.S. forces.
According to U.S. network CNN, Maduro will arrive in New York on January 3, 2026, where he will be taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), a federal prison located in Brooklyn.
The network, citing its own sources, reported that Maduro will appear before a court in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), based in Manhattan, on Monday, January 5, 2026.
The photo of Maduro
Minutes earlier, Trump posted a photo of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, handcuffed and with his eyes and ears covered, aboard a U.S. military vessel in the Caribbean, following his capture by American forces.
“Nicolás Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social alongside the image, which shows Maduro standing, wearing a gray Nike tracksuit, a kind of blindfold over his eyes, and noise-canceling headphones over his ears, while holding a water bottle with his hands cuffed.
Behind the captured president, an agent wearing a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) vest can be seen.
Trump announced that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are being held aboard the amphibious ship USS Iwo Jima and are en route to New York to face drug trafficking charges, while also revealing details of the special forces operation that decapitated the Chavista leadership in Venezuela in the early hours of the morning.
“They are on their way to New York. They have been charged in New York. They were first taken to a ship, the Iwo Jima, and will continue on to New York. The helicopters transported them. A smooth flight, I’m sure they enjoyed it,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
*With information from Efe.
