WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. attacked Venezuela and deposed its long-serving autocratic President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, President Donald Trump said, in Washington's most direct intervention in Latin Americasince the 1989 invasion of Panama.
"The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country," Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Ahead of the overnight strikes, the U.S. had accused Maduro of running a "narco-state" and rigging the 2024 election, which the opposition said it won overwhelmingly.
The Venezuelan leader, a 63-year-old former bus driver handpicked by the dying Hugo Chavez to succeed him in 2013, has denied those claims and said Washington was intent on taking control of his nation's oil reserves, the largest in the world.
The U.S. has not made such a direct intervention in its backyard region since the invasion of Panama 37years ago to depose military leader Manuel Noriega over similar allegations.
Venezuela's government said civilians and military personnel died in Saturday's strikes but did not give figures.
MADURO MAY FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES IN U.S.
Trump said the operation was carried out "in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement," promising more details at an 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Maduro was captured by elite special forces troops, a U.S. official told Reuters. Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told him Maduro would stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.
Rubio "anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody," Lee wrote on X.
In the Panama case, Noriega ended up in prison for 20 years.
Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who could take charge of government, said she did not know the whereabouts of either Maduro or his wife.
"We demand that President Donald Trump’s government provide immediate proof of life for President Maduro and the First Lady," Rodriguez said in an audio played on state TV.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned the intervention.
"Free, independent and sovereign Venezuela rejects with all the strength of its libertarian history the presence of these foreign troops, which have only left behind death, pain and destruction," Padrino said in a video broadcast on state media about the same time that Trump posted his message.
"Today we clench our fist in defense of what is ours. Let us unite, for in the unity of the people we will find the strength to resist and to triumph."
With Venezuelans nervously wondering what would come next, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello appeared on state TV on a street and wearing a helmet and flak jacket, urging people not to cooperate with the "terrorist enemy."
ACTION IN VENEZUELA RECALLS PAST US INTERVENTIONS
While various Latin American governments oppose Maduro and say he stole the 2024 vote, direct U.S. action revives painful memories of past interventions and is generally strongly opposed by governments and populations in the region.
Trump's action recalls the Monroe Doctrine, laid out in 1823 by President James Monroe, laying U.S. claim to influence in the region, as well as the "gunboat diplomacy" seen under Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s.
The Venezuelan opposition, headed by recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, said in a statement on X that it had no official comment on the events. It says Maduro has repeatedly cheated it of power in elections, as well as crushing street protests and jailing opposition figures.
Maduro has mocked Machado as being in Trump's pocket.
In the early hours of Saturday, explosions rocked Venezuela's capital Caracas and elsewhere, prompting Maduro's government to declare a national emergency and mobilize troops. It said attacks also took place in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
Blasts, aircraft and black smoke could be seen across Caracas from about 2 a.m. (0600 GMT) for roughly 90 minutes.
Residents expressed shock and fear as they captured video of billowing smoke and bright orange flashes in the sky. “My love, oh no, look at that,” said one woman in a video, gasping at blasts in the distance.
Carmen Marquez, 50, a resident of the eastern part of the capital, said she went to her roof and could hear planes at different altitudes, though she could not see them.
"Flare-like lights were crossing the sky and then explosions could be heard. We’re worried about what’s coming next. We don’t know anything from the government, only what the state television says," she said.
A power outage affected the southern area of Caracas, near a major military base, witnesses said. A local media outlet allied with the ruling socialist party said explosions had taken place near the Fuerte Tiuna and La Carlota military bases.
'NEW DAWN, THE TYRANT IS GONE,' US OFFICIAL SAYS
"A new dawn for Venezuela! The tyrant is gone," U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote on X.
The streets of Venezuela appeared relatively calm as sun rose on Saturday. Soldiers patrolled some parts.
"I'm happy, I doubted for a moment that it was happening because it's like a movie," said merchant Carolina Pimentel, 37, in the city of Maracay. "It's all calm now but I feel like at any moment everyone will be out celebrating."
Venezuelan allies Russia, Cuba and Iran were quick to condemn the strikes. Tehran called it "a blatant violation of national sovereignty and territorial integrity" and urged the U.N. Security Council to intervene to stop the "unlawful aggression."
Trump had repeatedly promised land operations in Venezuela and warned on Monday it would be "smart" for Maduro to leave.
The U.S. has made a major military buildup in the region, including an aircraft carrier, warships and advanced fighter jets stationed in the Caribbean.
POLITICAL BACKLASH FOR TRUMP?
Trump has sought a "blockade" of Venezuelan oil, expanded sanctions against the Maduro government and staged more than two dozen strikes on vessels the U.S. alleges were involved in trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
Trump has accused Venezuela of flooding the U.S. with drugs and his administration has for months been bombing boats it alleges were carrying them, killing more than 110 people.
Many nations have condemned the attacks as extrajudicial killings and Maduro's government has always denied any involvement with drug trafficking.
It was unclear under what legal authority the latest U.S. strikes were carried out.
Trump’s move risks a backlash from the U.S. Congress, which has the constitutional right to declare war, and from his own political base, which favors an “America first” policy and largely opposes military intervention abroad.
Venezuelan state-run energy company PDVSA's oil production and refining were normal and its most important facilities had suffered no damage according to an initial assessment, two sources with knowledge of the company's operations said.
The port of La Guaira near Caracas, one of the country's largest but one which is not used for oil operations, was reported to have suffered severe damage, one of them said.
MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic said oil prices were likely to jump on the near-term risk to supply but that the U.S. strike could be bearish in the medium term if a new Venezuelan government results in sanctions being lifted and renewed foreign investment.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux worldwide; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by William Mallard, William Maclean)
