Donald Trump, President of the United States, says many Venezuelans are happy with the United States military strike that hit Caracas on Saturday, arguing that the operation targeted what he described as a dictatorship built on drugs and corruption.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said ordinary Venezuelans supported the action because of the hardship they have endured under President Nicolas Maduro.
“They’re pleased,” Trump said. “They love the United States. Their country was a dictatorship. What he did with drugs is bad.”
Read also: Why the United States wants Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Trump stated that Maduro had attempted to negotiate in the days leading up to the operation but was rejected.
“You know, he was trying to negotiate at the end,” Trump told Fox News. “But I said, no, we can’t do it.”
James Vance, US Vice President echoed that message, saying Trump had offered “multiple off ramps” before authorising the strike. In a post on X, Vance said the president had been clear that drug trafficking must stop and that the oil he described as stolen must be returned.
“The president offered multiple off-ramps,” Vance wrote. “Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says.”
Trump said the operation involved US special forces and law enforcement working together. He told Fox News that no Americans were killed, though some were injured during what he described as a difficult mission at a heavily fortified location.
“I think we had nobody killed,” Trump said. “A couple of guys were hit, but they came back, and they’re supposed to be in pretty good shape.”
Read also: U.S. forces capture Venezuela’s Maduro, flies him and his wife out of the country
According to CNN, FBI agents were embedded with US special operations forces during the mission. US officials said the Drug Enforcement Administration has spent years building a case against Maduro and senior Venezuelan military figures, with prosecutors in Manhattan expected to make further details public.
On the ground, Venezuela’s defence minister, Vladimir Padrino López, said the US attack struck urban areas across the country. He said missiles and rockets were fired from American combat helicopters and confirmed that Fort Tiuna, a major military complex in Caracas, was hit.
Authorities are still gathering information on casualties, Padrino López said.
Videos verified by the BBC showed explosions, fires, and thick smoke rising from several locations around the capital. Four sites have been confirmed so far: La Carlota air base, the port of La Guaira, Higuerote airport, and Fort Tiuna. Getty Images published photographs showing burning vehicles near the military complex, while NASA satellite data detected heat signatures over Caracas at the time of the strikes.
Read also: Venezuelan president declares state of emergency after U.S. attack
Despite the attack, Venezuela’s government insists Maduro remains president. Foreign Minister Yván Gil said state institutions were functioning and demanded that the United States respect Venezuela’s constitution.
“The Constitution is clear,” Gil said on state television. “The elected president, the constitutional president, is President Nicolas Maduro Moros.”
He said the armed forces, police, and public institutions were fully deployed and urged Venezuelans to remain confident in the state’s ability to defend its sovereignty.
The strike followed weeks of rising tension. Last month, Trump warned that the United States was preparing to expand its campaign against alleged drug trafficking networks in Venezuela.
“We’re going to start doing those strikes on land too,” Trump said on December 2, in remarks reported by CNN. “We know where they live.”
The Trump administration has long accused Maduro of leading a narco trafficking organisation and charged him in New York with narco terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. Maduro denies the allegations and has accused Washington of trying to seize Venezuela’s oil wealth.
