Former President of Venezuela (in US custody since January 2026)
Appears in 12 stories
Abducted by US military operation on January 3, 2026; Delcy Rodríguez is governing Venezuela
Two weeks after the June 24 twin earthquakes, Venezuela's confirmed death toll reached 3,535 — more than double the figure recorded in the first days after the disaster. Most international rescue teams have withdrawn, leaving 29,567 Venezuelan military and security personnel and more than 27,000 volunteers to continue recovery.
Updated Jul 9
In U.S. custody; pleaded not guilty to narcoterrorism charges in Manhattan federal court
Hugo Chávez nationalized Venezuela's oil sector in 2007, expropriating assets from ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and other foreign companies. Nineteen years later, less than a month after U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's National Assembly passed legislation reversing that policy. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez signed it into law.
Updated May 26
Held in U.S. custody, pleaded not guilty; defense team filed jurisdiction challenge on February 4; next hearing March 17, 2026
Congress hasn't declared war since 1942, though presidents have ordered 212 military strikes without formal declarations. On January 3, 2026, U.S. special forces raided Venezuela, captured President Nicolás Maduro in his residence, and flew him to New York to face narcoterrorism charges.
Updated May 22
Detained at MDC Brooklyn; pleaded not guilty January 5, 2026; next hearing March 17, 2026
Delta Force dragged Nicolás Maduro from his bedroom at 2 AM on January 3, threw him on a helicopter, and flew him to the USS Iwo Jima bound for Manhattan. The Venezuelan president now faces narco-terrorism charges in the same courthouse that convicted El Chapo.
Updated May 19
Detained at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn; pleaded not guilty January 5, next court date March 17 at 11 a.m.
Delta Force operators captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife in Caracas at 2 a.m. on January 3 as explosions rocked the capital and helicopters evacuated them to the USS Iwo Jima, bound for New York. By Saturday afternoon, Maduro arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn—the first American military capture of a sitting head of state since Manuel Noriega in 1989.
Indicted by U.S. for narcoterrorism, $25 million bounty
Trump confirmed the first known U.S. land attack inside Venezuela on December 30—a drone strike on a coastal dock allegedly used by the Tren de Aragua gang, with no one present when missiles hit. The same day, a U.S. strike on a boat in the Pacific killed two more people, bringing total deaths to at least 107 since September.
Updated May 18
In US federal custody awaiting trial
The USS Gerald R. Ford steamed back into Naval Station Norfolk on Saturday after 320 days at sea, the longest US carrier deployment since the Vietnam War. The crew of 4,500 sailors fought in two combat operations, supported the capture of a foreign head of state, and lived through a 30-hour shipboard fire.
Updated May 16
Denouncing U.S. actions as piracy; urging resistance while exports face new friction
The U.S. Coast Guard is now chasing a third Venezuela-linked tanker in international waters near Venezuela—under a judicial seizure order. Two other tankers have already been stopped in the past 11 days, including one dramatic helicopter boarding that the administration amplified on social media.
Updated May 15
Denounces the CITGO sale effort; faces U.S. pressure and sanctions escalation.
CITGO has been the prize everyone can see, but almost nobody can touch. For years, a single U.S. sanctions lever has decided whether the PDVSA 2020 bond's "CITGO shares" collateral is a real hammer—or just a threat on paper.
Denounced the blockade threat; faces tightening U.S. pressure on oil exports.
Trump's Venezuela "blockade" threat is now backed by policy. Washington has added new Venezuela-linked sanctions and also targeted Iran's shadow-fleet network. Together, these expand the pool of already-sanctioned vessels that the U.S. Navy could board if they try to trade with Venezuela.
Clinging to power under deep sanctions, relying on shadow‑fleet exports and military mobilization.
A US Coast Guard team fast-roped from helicopters onto the supertanker Skipper off Venezuela's coast. Within hours, President Donald Trump was bragging in Washington that the United States had just seized one of the world's largest tankers and would likely keep the oil.
Updated May 11
In U.S. custody facing narco‑terrorism charges in New York
On December 5, 2025, the Trump administration released a 33-page National Security Strategy declaring a Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The document formally revives the 19th-century idea of the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence and promises to reassert American preeminence across the Americas.
Updated May 10
No stories match your search
Try a different keyword
How would you like to describe your experience with the app today?
