Trump: US intends to 'run' Venezuela, after the capture of President Nicolas Maduro
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Trump has announced the United States will run Venezuela until an orderly transition can be achieved, saying he wasn't afraid of putting boots on the ground. His comments came hours after US forces captured the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro (and his wife) during an overnight raid in Caracas. Mr Trump said Mr Maduro would soon face narco-terrorism charges in New York, posting a picture of the Venezuelan leader blindfolded and handcuffed. Mr Trump warned the US military would remain engaged to prevent resistance, but US Democrats have condemned a prolonged American involvement. The president also pledged that US oil companies would take over and rehabilitate Venezuelan oil facilities.
(Photo: Trump earlier shared a photo he said was of Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima. The image shows him blindfolded and wearing ear defenders)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:08.8 | Hello, welcome to a special edition of NewsHour from the BBC World Service, coming to you live from London with me, Sean Lay. |
| 0:32.3 | A recording by a local resident in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, where in the early hours of this morning, American aircraft were hurt flying over the city and explosions in the background. |
| 0:37.4 | Over the next hour, we're going to examine what has been a dramatic day in the Americas. |
| 0:42.2 | US troops have taken Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro into custody. |
| 0:46.0 | Donald Trump says he'll be put on trial accused of drug smuggling. |
| 0:50.8 | Can the 26-year-old Bolivarian revolution survive without its leader? |
| 1:00.4 | And can President Trump deliver the promise he made at a news conference later on Saturday to ensure a safe, proper and judicious transition to a different government? |
| 1:05.0 | Stay with us as we try to find some of the answers to those questions. |
| 1:28.8 | Four months ago, US President Donald Trump dispatched a task force to the Caribbean, charged, he said, with stopping the drug trafficking activities of a cartel, he claimed was run by Venezuela's government. It was pressure, but not intervention. In the early hours of this morning, that strategy changed dramatically. A little before 2 a.m. local time, Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, |
| 1:34.3 | came under aerial assault. As explosions woke a sleeping city at a military compound, |
| 1:39.5 | Delta Force, US Special Operations troops were about to snatch the president. |
| 1:47.8 | Well, that explosions were in many ways a distraction. |
| 1:49.4 | By daylight, they were over. |
| 1:53.9 | The bombers had departed, and Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cila Flores, |
| 1:56.9 | were in a helicopter bound for the USS Iwojima, |
| 2:01.7 | an amphibious assault ship stationed off the coast of the country. |
| 2:06.4 | Late morning from his Mar-Alarago estate in Florida, Donald Trump published on truth social his media platform a photograph of Maduro, either wearing aviator sunglasses or more likely a blindfold |
| 2:12.1 | and certainly handcuffed. General Dan Kane, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, known to his fellow |
| 2:18.8 | officers as Raisin Kane, the nation's highest ranking military officer gave journalists more |
| 2:23.9 | details about last night's operation. Over the course of the night, aircraft began launching |
| 2:29.5 | from 20 different bases on land and sea across the Western Hemisphere. In total, more than 150 aircraft, |
... |
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