The U.S. says its military operation to capture Venezuela's president took months of planning, but when Donald Trump gave the order to launch, 'Operation Absolute Resolve' only lasted about 150 minutes.
The surprise early-morning attack on Saturday marked an unprecedented event in modern politics and culminated in the arrest of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Captured by troops from an elite U.S. army unit as they tried to flee into a fortified safe room, the pair are now being held in a detention center in New York and face narco-terrorism charges.
As the sun rose on Saturday, the scale of the military operation in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, was clear.
Pictures from Fuerte Tiuna, a large military complex, show bombed-out buildings and charred cars. It was at this compound that Maduro and his wife were captured.
Operation Absolute Resolve began around 02:00 in Caracas (06:00 GMT) with explosions reported throughout the city. The U.S. cut power to the city, describing it as a 'dark and deadly' operation aimed at disabling Venezuela's air defenses.
US military helicopters flew low over Caracas, faced gunfire but still reached their destination. The Delta Force troops gained access to the compound at 02:01 local time. The Maduros reportedly 'gave up' without a struggle but tried to escape to a secure area.
Now in U.S. custody, Maduro and his wife were flown approximately 2,100 miles (3,400 km) to New York City. Following their capture, they were transported via helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima and subsequently transferred to Guantánamo Bay Naval Base before finally arriving in New York.
Maduro and Flores face serious charges, including conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and possession of machine guns. Attorney General Pam Bondi stated, 'They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.'
