The United States carried out airstrikes against several targets in Venezuela, including the capital Caracas, and bombed Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, after which a national emergency was declared in the country.
US President Donald Trump claimed that the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Amid the US military action, an old video of Trump is going viral.
Dated back in December, 2025, in the video, Trump was seen saying, "They took away our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. They drove our companies out of there, and we want them back." The video was from December 18th of last year, when Trump spoke to the media before boarding his Air Force One flight.
Trump may have repeatedly ordered strikes on Venezuelan ships, accusing them of drug trafficking, but his primary focus was on Venezuela's oil reserves. The US repeatedly destroyed Venezuelan cargo ships with missiles, after which Trump defended the military action, saying that Venezuela has been smuggling large quantities of drugs into the US, which our soldiers have stopped. He also labelled Nicolas Maduro a drug trafficker.
Since Trump took office for his second term, he put Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro squarely in his sights, pursuing a maximum pressure campaign against the Venezuelan regime, Guardian reported.
Trump accused Maduro of being behind destabilising activity in the Americas, including drug trafficking and illegal immigration to the US. In July, the US announced a bounty on Maduro’s head, accusing him of being one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.
Trump’s administration declared Venezuelan gangs such as Tren de Aragua as terrorist organisations and began carrying out airstrikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea. Soon, the US began to seize Venezuelan tankers and built up its military presence in the waters surrounding the South American country.
Trump openly flirted with the idea of regime change in Venezuela. In late November, Trump gave Maduro an ultimatum to relinquish power, offering him safe passage out of the country. Maduro refused the offer, telling supporters in Venezuela that he did not want “a slave’s peace” and accusing the US of wanting control of his country’s oil reserves.
On Thursday, two days before his capture, Maduro said in a televised interview he would welcome US investment in the country’s oil sector.
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