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January 16, 2026

The United States will temporarily oversee Venezuela until a “safe, orderly and responsible transition” is achieved, former president Donald Trump has said, following US military strikes that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump said major US oil companies would be brought in to repair Venezuela’s “collapsed infrastructure” and help the country begin generating revenue again.

US forces carried out strikes early Saturday that led to the arrest of Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, who were removed from Venezuela by American troops.

Venezuelan authorities declared a nationwide state of emergency and condemned what they described as “military aggression,” while the country’s vice president insisted Maduro remains Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

Maduro and Flores were taken from Caracas aboard a US military helicopter in the early hours of Saturday and transported to the USS Iwo Jima at an undisclosed location in the Caribbean.

They were later flown to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba before being transferred to another aircraft bound for New York state. From there, they were taken by helicopter to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said both Maduro and Flores had been indicted in the Southern District of New York.

The charges include conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, cocaine trafficking, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to use such weapons against the United States.

“They will soon face the full force of American justice on American soil and in American courts,” Bondi wrote on X.

Maduro has previously denied allegations that he leads a drug cartel, accusing the United States of using the war on drugs as a pretext to remove him from power and gain access to Venezuela’s extensive oil reserves.

Speaking at a news conference ahead of Maduro’s arrival in New York, Trump said Venezuela’s oil industry had suffered years of mismanagement.

“We’re going to send in the biggest US oil companies, invest billions of dollars, repair the severely damaged oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country again,” he said.

Venezuela holds an estimated 303 billion barrels of crude oil—around 20% of global reserves—according to the US Energy Information Administration.

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