iDeemlawfulUnited States President Donald Trump on Saturday shared a photo showing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in custody aboard a US naval vessel, with the president blindfolded and handcuffed.
“Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, alongside the image, which he said was taken hours after Maduro was seized by US forces.
In the photo, the Venezuelan leader appeared to be wearing noise-cancelling earmuffs and a grey Nike-branded tracksuit.
Earlier, Trump announced that the United States had “successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela,” stating that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife had been “captured and flown out of the Country.”
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The announcement on Trump’s social media account came shortly before 4:30 a.m. Saturday, just hours after residents in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, reported hearing several explosions. Images and videos circulating online showed plumes of smoke and a large fireball lighting up the night sky.
Trump said the operation was carried out in collaboration with U.S. law enforcement agencies and announced plans to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. at Mar-a-Lago.
Speaking later at a press conference in Florida, Trump declared that the United States would “run” Venezuela following the military action that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said during the briefing.
He explained that he wanted to prevent a leadership change that would recreate “the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.”
“So, we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition. And it has to be judicious, because that’s what we’re all about,” he added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply alarmed” by the strikes.
His spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said on Saturday that the UN chief was “deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected,” and urged “all actors in Venezuela to engage in inclusive dialogue, in full respect of human rights and the rule of law.”
Several countries, including Iran, Colombia, Cuba, Russia, Spain, Germany, Italy and China, have also condemned the reported US operation, raising concerns about its international legality and the precedent it could set.