2d ago

CNN team witnesses multiple explosions in Venezuela’s capital Caracas | CNN

edition.cnn.com The US has captured Venezuelan leader Maduro. Here’s what to know | CNN

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the US will “run” Venezuela after capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a large-scale military operation, a stunning development that plunged the country into uncertainty after weeks of spiraling tensions.

121 comments

Maduro has been kidnapped by US forces, this is insane
- Nothing is insane anymore with this administration. It stopped being insane when Americans elected a convicted felon and pedophile. Everything after that was just the same level of insane. As expected by everyone sane.
  
  No it's still insane, just common and expected.
  
  Don't forget the ungodly amounts of money that were probably laundered through his casinos. How large a cut do you think he got?
  
  Hypernormalization is our enemy. This has never stopped being insane, but the intensity intensifies intensely by the day
- Zero tears for Maduro tho
  
  Might as well be commenting "he was no angel though" on a post about George Floyd
- He made a deal with Trump. Maduro has abandoned venezuela. You can't capture a national leader this easily unless they're compliant
  
  I don't think "come or die" is really a deal.
  
  Nope.
  https://apnews.com/live/trump-us-venezuela-updates-01-03-2026
  U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York.
  Unless of course he made a deal and was immediately crossed.
  
  If there was any "deal" made, both the army and his personal security would have had to be informed. This seems very unlikely as it would be extremely difficult to hide this plot unless they kill everyone who knows about this.
  
  that's a major hit to their ability to fight back right? Even if he wasn't collaborating losing a monolithic leader like would be a massive blow their ability to effectively resist.
  
  You do when you have our military.

As an American I fully condemn this, condemn the regime that ordered it, condemn the Military Officers that received orders to do this and didn't immediately resign, and fully hope that International consequences against the guilty parties will be forthcoming.
- 100%. I've posted this a bunch to deaf ears, but if the international community were serious about ostracizing us, they simply need to sell their 10 year treasury bonds. It'll hurt everyone economically, but will cause the house of cards to fold nearly immediately. The rats will jump ship once the profits are gone.
  That won't happen though. Just some sternly worded letters and capitalism as usual. But the narrative that US citizens need to risk it all and take to the streets is exhausting and not effective in the least bit given the current landscape.
  
  Who do you think owns those 10 years bonds? Its the capitalists, they already support this if it made them money.
  
  I mean, US citizens should have taken to the streets way before this.

They've been bombed. Not just explosions, the child rapist asking for a nobel peace prize just bombed them. Nice way to start 2026... Here's hoping Venezuela becomes the cunt's Vietnam!
- Here's hoping Venezuela becomes the cunt's Vietnam!
  You want him to reinstate the draft‽
  
  Low key yes. So many Americans have this "well it doesn't affect me" attitude.

What I've found so far: CNN has a team present in Caracas and witnessed the strikes.
7 explosions reported - likely missile strikes to disable air defense
2 (correction: many more) smoke plumes reported - likely from sites struck with missiles
a flight of helicopters which could be MH60 Sea Hawk - nothing very impressive, a random civilian filmed them going low and slow, MANPADS fodder but it seems they got lucky on that leg of the run
(Some X account posted footage from the Iranian attack on Israel and claimed it to be Venezuela.)
Opinion:
So it's international agression then. Taking out air defense and inserting helicopters over the capital of another country is generally considered an act of war. I guess Trump thinks he needs a war for some reason. It might be smart to prevent him from getting a full-scale one - and the next best thing that might dissuade him might be casualties.
An extremely unpleasant side effect: unless Maduro stumbles and falls really quick, he's pretty much legitimizing Maduro and causing his supporters to consolidate around him. In the game of diplomacy, that's not the right move.
Some other countries would certainly benefit from Trump getting bogged down anywhere, in any country. Especially a large and technically sophisticated country which wants to annex an island well known for its electronic products would approve of the US going on adventures in random places and getting bogged down.
- I guess Trump thinks he needs a war for some reason
  I can think of at least one
  
  Only one?
  Trump's Approval Rating Drops to 36%, New Second-Term Low
  President Trump Quips About Canceling 2028 Elections If U.S. Is At War
- Trump is good friends with Saudis. The Saudis bring in billions every day because of their oil. Trump covets that, and wishes he had that.
  Venezuela is sitting above the largest oil deposit on the planet. Trump wants it. If he can control Venezuela, he can control that oil, and be as rich as the Saudis.
  It's always easy with Trump. Just follow the money.
  
  Not always. Sometimes Trumps motivation is using the adoration of the crowd to fill the hole in his heart from not being love enough as a child. Expect him to be peacocking around in front of news cameras expecting everyone to gush over him.
- a flight of helicopters which could be MH60 Sea Hawk - nothing very impressive, a random civilian filmed them going low and slow, MANPADS fodder but it seems they got lucky on that leg of the run
  It seems like those helicopters carried special forces that are now on the ground and doing what they are there to do.
  
  It seems like those helicopters carried special forces that are now on the ground and doing what they are there to do.
  It actually seems they hit the jackpot - they claim to have taken Maduro prisoner and claim to have taken him out of the country.
  If all of that is true, I'm still not sure if I'm impressed by the operation. A loose grid of guys with shoulder-launched missiles on a few rooftops could have ruined absolutely all of it.
  But if they got in without getting shot down, got Maduro and got out without getting shot down, then luck favoured them and war will hopefully not ensue.
  Maduro had likely built everything on personal loyalty to himself. A normal country would continue fighting and delegate authority downward, but Maduro wasn't running a normal country, apparently.
- a flight of helicopters which could be MH60 Sea Hawk
  In the videos I saw, the helicopters were twin-rotor design. Some variant of the CH-47 Chinook.

I get off work at this god awful hour to learn that the US has performed an extrajudicial kidnapping of a foreign leader and their spouse. This fucking wild and I hope it doesn't turn into regional conflict for all our sakes.

What an ineffective distraction ftom the Epstein Files!
And what a travesty Drumpf is literally playing with the lives of others, American and Venezuelan, to do so.
- no matter how many men Trump murders, I will not be distracted from what’s truly important, which is that he raped women decades ago
  
  Ah yes, let's ignore the fact that he spent the bulk of his adult life grooming and raping girls (not "women", but minors) with his best friend, the world's most notorious pedophile sex trafficker, because he is starting an unprovoked war over oil.
  Genuine question: are you really incapable of being angry about multiple things at once, or do you just have a generally laissez-faire attitude towards violent sex crimes against kids?
  
  Women? Try minors, you fucking freak.
  
  Agreed! Who CARES if Trump raped 10 year old WOMEN? He was just a 50 year old CHILD then!

I hate my country. I hope class consciousness accelerates under Trump's shit management of the US so working class people can oust his ass. The US CANNOT be the world's bully for another century.
It's time for this empire to fall.

Is the oil safe? I stand with Washington! Someone please tell me what flag I need to put on my X account, thanks!
- You forgot to mention grok.

I use this time in the morning to ease into my day. 5 am here in Western North Carolina. What the fuck is wrong with America? I am sick to my stomach right now.
- What the fuck is wrong with America?
  Same as always. Not the first time you invade or sabotage a foreign country in order to hide your crumbling internal issues.
  
  Good point.
- Then do something?
  
  Like what?

Congress please dear god grow a spine.
- you don't get to be a politician if you have a spine
- Trump wouldn't have won either election if congress had a spine.
  (emoluments for example).
  Congress was with him, even when they impeached him (and didn't actually convict).
  Without congress, Trump wouldn't be possible. No functioning government would have him as President.
- Grow a spine? They're entirely complicit. Democracy theater at its best.

USA is a terrorist country and must disappear. Theyve only killed killed and killed people since its inception. Fuck USA

It really doesn't make sense to me. So they kidnap Maduro and his wife .... and then what? What do they expect to happen in Venezuela? It will probably be chaos there.
- Chaos until a Peace Nobel Prize winner takes the reigns and be Trump's puppet, giving all the resources to USA corps to stay in power.
- Chaos is what they're likely striving for in my opinion.
  
  they will suspend midterms due to being at war - none of what they're doing is the actions of a regime that could be removed via elections

So, another 20 year boondoggle like Afghanistan and Iraq?
- It's trump. He'll find a way to f it up in months.
- He’ll write an EO saying any troops will be out in 2029 so that IF Dems are in power then they’ll have to figure a way to clean up.

The MeidasTouch Network has footage of all of this on their channel. Fucking insane shit, Trump has started an invasion without the approval of Congress.
- US has been manufacturing consent for this for 20+ years.
- I bet it's a special military operation not an invasion

Dieses Fette orange Stück Scheisse

Al Jazeera live coverage

Well on the bright side, thank fucking Ares we no longer have to listen to Tulsi Gabbard's smug performative "end the forever wars" bullshit.
- She will say this is the war to end all wars or some BS like that. Words mean nothing to these people.
  
  True. But at least we don't have to continue to pretend like there's even a shred of credibility there anymore.

I wonder why we haven’t been read in via Signal yet?

There was also airplanes flying low over the city. I read that it was 7 explosions and that the area without electricity is near a major military base.

Vaush has launched an emergency stream, wouldnt have got this news if I didnt get the notification. Just went live. Probably a lot more left than most coverage you'll see tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/live/Z4e1ta0qHRs
- Is that the guy that had to make an apology video after accidentally showing his porn folder containing borderline illegal porn and being outed as sexually harassing his discord members? Is it that Vaush?
- Vaush is not left.
  
  "VaUsH BaD" 🙄

The schoolyard bully is at it again. He wants their oil and he's going to take it, from the weakest kids he can pick on.
- Weakest? I thought he picked them because theyre the closest.

So officially the US is our enemy in the region, and of course the right is celebrating

bro I don't know what is going on or how to feel. I am confused, shocked, annoyed. I really hope this world can pull through all the weird crap that is happening over the next few years.

I can't help but think that this is gonna be my home city of Montréal soon. Better prepare, I guess.

The best way to reconstruct something is to destroy it first. Isn't that what maintains the economy going since like always?

Seems like a rather clean and successful operation, not unlike Russia's similar attempt 4 years ago. Shows what a properly powerful military can do, I guess.
Maduro has supported Russia's illegal conquest in Ukraine, and is an oppressive dictator, so I'm not shedding any tears for him.
- You're really begging for downvotes with this comment, but I'm curious: how do you see this situation playing out? Do you think a couple steps ahead, or just react?
  My guess is that is going to go like this:
  Trump admin tries to install Machado as US puppet government in Venezuela.
  Mass popular uprising from the Venezuelan people, significant violence, attempts at deposing or assassinating Machado.
  US boots on the ground to prop up Machado regime. -or-
  US abandons Venezuela project, leaving devastation and chaos behind.
  Inevitable blowback, Americans killed.
  
  Mass popular uprising from the Venezuelan people, significant violence, attempts at deposing or assassinating Machado.
  This won't happen. Venezuelans were incredibly tired of Maduro's regime. I know majority of people in US are enraged by this, because is an act of aggression and so on, but majority of people in Venezuela are not, because this is finally the end of Maduro and possibly Chavism.
  
  You’re really begging for downvotes with this comment
  Fortunately I don't give a fuck about downvotes. I don't even see them so they might as well not exist.
  how do you see this situation playing out?
  Seems to me that Venezuela hasn't reacted in any way to this. So unless that changes, it seems to me that they're gonna just take whatever USA is going to do them.
  The same would have happened to Ukraine if Russia had succeeded in what they tried to do there.
  Trump admin tries to install Machado as US puppet government in Venezuela.
  Why Machado? Genuine question here, I didn't realize she was a serious option for this. I would think that the person who actually won the elections in 2024, Edmundo Gonzalez, would be the more realistic option.
  I think it's gonna be either
  Venezuela finally gets rid of communism for good and is going to prosper.
  or
  Venezuela finally gets rid of communism, but it's replaced with thieving oligarchies and they are not going to prosper.
  If we look at history, 6 happened to most eastern bloc countries and China, 7 happened to some eastern bloc countries and Russia itself. I don't know enough about Venezuela's internal politics to tell which is more likely there.
- I shed no tears for Maduro personally but I shed tears for Venezuela and I'm livid and absolutely outraged at Trump.
  
  That is true, however if this is all the military action that happens there, the civilians are going to get off pretty easy on this one.
  I know this is a big if at this point, but it is one possibility.

121 comments