Why did the US attack Venezuela and capture Nicolás Maduro?

The United States conducted an early morning strike in Venezuela on Saturday, Jan. 3, and captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

After being captured, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken to New York to face charges. The "large scale strike against Venezuela" was done "in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement," President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social just after 4 a.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 3.

Attorney General Pam Bondi called Maduro and his wife "two alleged international narco traffickers" in a post on X on Jan. 3. Maduro has been indicted on charges of "Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States," she said.

The attack comes just more than a month after Trump designated Maduro and his government allies of a foreign terrorist organization. And it also comes 36 years to the day from when the U.S. captured Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, the last time the U.S. made such a bold military action in the region.

Why did the US capture Maduro?

President Trump has challenged the legitimacy of Maduro's 2024 election and accused the Venezuelan president of trafficking drugs into the U.S. During the first Trump administration, Maduro and more than a dozen other current and former Venezuelan officials were indicted by the U.S. in March 2020 for drug trafficking charges, announced by then-Attorney General William Barr.

As part of the administration's ongoing efforts to prevent drugs from flowing into the U.S., Trump declared fentanyl as a "weapon of mass destruction" on Dec. 15.

Subsequently, Trump ordered a blockade of ships from entering and leaving Venezuela and the U.S. seized several oil tankers exiting the country.

Back in September, U.S. military forces began destroying boats originating from Venezuela because the boats allegedly carried drugs destined for the U.S., Trump said.

Speaking to Fox News on Saturday morning, Trump said the action was taken because drugs killed about 300,000 Americans each year. "We don't lose that much in a war," he said. "We are stopping drugs from coming into this country and nobody has been able to do it until we came along," Trump said.

Why is there tension between the US and Venezuela?

The situation is really more of the U.S. exerting pressure to oust Maduro.

Following the first drug boat strikes, Trump said in October that ground strikes in Venezuela could come soon. "We are certainly looking at land now because we've got the sea very well under control," Trump told reporters Oct. 15.

A socialist and the handpicked successor of the late Hugo Chávez, Maduro has said Washington has plans to take control Venezuela's oil reserves, which are the largest in the world.

Trump said he talked to Maduro a week ago and the Venezuelan leader was attempting to negotiate. "I said 'You have to give up. You have to surrender'," Trump said, speaking on Fox News. "We had to do something that was really much more surgical, much more powerful."

Maduro "is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government," Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X after the strike. "Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country. And he is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States."

Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at  mikegsnider  &  @mikegsnider.bsky.social  &  @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com.