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Radio Atlantic

Is the U.S. Running Venezuela or Not?

Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

Politics, Society & Culture, News

4.32.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured by U.S. forces over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced that America would now “run” Venezuela. Staff writers Vivian Salama and Michael Scherer break down what might happen next—and what Trump told The Atlantic the day after the capture. --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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By all accounts, the US military's raid in Venezuela on Saturday was efficient, clean, meticulously planned.

1:01.0

President Trump, who watched it unfold in Mar-a-Lago, said it was like a TV show.

1:07.0

Dead of night, Delta Force troops burst into Nicolas Maduro's compound and captured him and his wife.

1:14.3

Soon after, Trump posted a picture of the Venezuelan dictator on social media,

1:19.0

blindfolded, wearing headphones, and with his hands apart, like he'd just dropped the controls.

1:25.6

But since that military operation, everything about the U.S.

1:30.2

government's entanglement with Venezuela is murky and messy. I'm Hanna Rosen. This is Radio Atlantic.

1:38.3

If the goal of the Venezuelan raid was to capture a defendant wanted in U.S. courts for suspected

1:44.1

narco-terrorism,

...

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