President Donald Trump said the U.S. captured President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of Venezuela after a series of airstrikes, an extraordinary escalation in his months-long campaign against the country.

“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 wrote on social media.

Capturing Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, marks an unprecedented intervention and a stunning fall for the Venezuelan leader who became president in 2013. The strikes prompted condemnations from Maduro supporters including Russia’s foreign ministry and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who called for a United Nations Security Council meeting, while Trump allies including Argentina President Javier Milei celebrated the news.

Maduro had already been the target of a U.S. pressure campaign dating to Trump’s first term. The Trump administration has accused him of leading a drug-trafficking organization that represented a national security threat.

Trump has been assembling American military forces in the region for months, authorized attacks on alleged drug-running boats and orchestrated a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers going to and leaving Venezuela.

DOJ issues ‘Narco-terrorism’ charges

The U.S. Department of Justice accused Maduro of playing a key role in a broad conspiracy over 25 years to traffic cocaine into the U.S. with the help of regional drug and terrorist groups in an indictment unsealed after Maduro’s capture.

The indictment charges Maduro and his alleged co-conspirators with partnering with groups including the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua — all of which have been designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations.

If convicted of the charges, Maduro could spend the rest of his life behind bars based on sentencing guidelines.

Maduro was initially charged by the U.S. in 2020 and officials set a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest. The indictment released on Saturday updates the charges and adds new defendants, including Maduro’s wife and son.

Maduro has denied being involved in the drug trade.

US takes charge

Trump said the U.S. would run Venezuela until a leadership transition could be organized.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said Saturday at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Trump said the U.S. administration of Venezuela would include deploying U.S. oil companies to the country, though he indicated that his embargo “on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect” and that U.S. forces would stay on alert.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said.

But the president offered few other details on how he planned to administer the country, saying it would be done “with a group” largely comprised of senior U.S. officials and with an emphasis on repairing oil infrastructure and making sure the people of Venezuela were “also taken care of.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been in recent contact with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, the U.S. president said, adding he expected her cooperation going forward.

Rodriguez, however, called Maduro’s arrest a “kidnapping,” and a “barbaric” act. Speaking on state television alongside the country’s defense council, she vowed that Venezuela would never be a colony and demanded Maduro’s return.

Asked if U.S. boots would be on the ground, Trump said he was “not afraid” of the idea to make sure the country was run properly. He later told the New York Post there would be no U.S. troops in the country if Rodriguez “does what we want.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro seen in November. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)