U.S. Delta Force seizes Venezuelan leader, sources say

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured early Saturday by members of the United States Army’s Delta Force during a U.S. military operation in Venezuela, according to U.S. officials cited by CBS News.

The officials said the operation was carried out by Delta Force, the U.S. military’s top special mission unit, and resulted in Maduro being taken into U.S. custody. The capture followed days of U.S. military strikes across Venezuela targeting air defenses, command centers, and other government-linked facilities, though officials did not specify the exact location of Maduro’s detention.

According to CBS News, U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that Delta Force personnel conducted the mission early Saturday morning. No public details were provided on how Maduro was located, how the operation unfolded, or where he was taken after being captured.

Delta Force is an elite U.S. Army special operations unit tasked with high-risk missions, including counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and the capture or killing of high-value targets. The unit operates under strict secrecy, and its missions are rarely acknowledged publicly by U.S. authorities.

The same unit was responsible for the 2019 raid in Syria that killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the former leader of the Islamic State, underscoring its role in operations against high-profile targets deemed critical to U.S. national security.

Maduro has been under U.S. indictment since 2020, when American prosecutors charged him in a case alleging narcoterrorism and drug trafficking-related offenses. His government has consistently rejected the charges, calling them politically motivated. U.S. officials did not state whether the indictment played a direct role in the decision to conduct the capture operation.