By Desire Emmanuel with Agency Reports
The United States will run Venezuela following a “large-scale strike” early Saturday that ultimately resulted in the US capturing the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday.
The United States will lead Venezuela until a “proper transition can take place,” Trump said during a news conference.
He claimed the American presence was already in place, though there were no immediate signs that the US was running the country.
The US hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday and moved Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington — an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by Trump on social media hours after the attack.
Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández told The Associated Press that Maduro and his wife were at their home within the Fort Tiuna military installation when they were captured.
“That’s where they bombed,” he said. “And, there, they carried out what we could call a kidnapping of the president and the first lady of the country.”
Trump told Fox News that Maduro and his wife are aboard a ship — the USS Iwo Jima — and headed to New York.
Multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas, the capital of the oil-rich nation, early Saturday, as Maduro’s government immediately accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations. The Venezuelan government called it an “imperialist attack” and urged citizens to take to the streets.
