{"id":1340165,"date":"2026-01-03T20:17:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T18:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/interim-management-of-venezuela-and-access-to-oil-trumps-key-points-from-the-press-conference-on-the-arrest-of-maduro\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T20:17:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T18:17:30","slug":"interim-management-of-venezuela-and-access-to-oil-trumps-key-points-from-the-press-conference-on-the-arrest-of-maduro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/interim-management-of-venezuela-and-access-to-oil-trumps-key-points-from-the-press-conference-on-the-arrest-of-maduro\/","title":{"rendered":"Interim management of Venezuela and access to oil: Trump’s key points from the press conference on the arrest of Maduro"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump said the United States would temporarily rule Venezuela after President Nicolas Maduro was seized in a massive military operation. U.S. forces detained the Venezuelan leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, in their bedroom during an overnight raid.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is reported by CNN<\/a> .<\/p>\n

During a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump explained that the United States would lead the country until a “safe, orderly and prudent transition of power occurs.” The president did not provide a specific timeline for how long such a transition would take.<\/p>\n

” We are going to run the country until<\/strong> we can make a safe, orderly and prudent transition. We don’t want to be involved in a situation where someone else comes in and we have the same situation that we have had for the last few years,” Trump said.<\/p>\n

The president said key U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, will be working with the team to manage Venezuela. They will stand behind him during his speech.<\/p>\n

“It’s going to be largely the people who are right behind me. We’re going to lead this. We’re going to bring this back,” Trump said, standing before Rubio, Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Kaine.<\/p>\n

Details of the military operation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

General Dan Kane described the operation as a massive, carefully planned mission that took months to prepare and hours to execute on the ground. The operation was codenamed “Absolute Resolve.”<\/p>\n

Late Friday night, more than 150 aircraft took off from 20 different bases on land and at sea across the Western Hemisphere. Among them were helicopters carrying extraction forces that began their flight to Venezuela at an altitude of just 100 feet above the water.<\/p>\n

“The operation, known as ‘Absolute Resolve,’ was discrete, precise, and carried out in the darkest hours of January 2nd and was the culmination of months of planning and rehearsals – an operation that, frankly, only the United States military can pull off,” Kane said.<\/p>\n

The helicopters, protected by a series of strikes in the area, arrived at Maduro’s compound around 1 a.m. Eastern Time. The effort to capture Maduro and his wife required several “self-defense clashes” as the forces came under fire before departing Venezuela around 3:29 a.m.<\/p>\n

Loss and damage<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Trump said no American service members were killed in the operation, although some were injured. One plane was hit but remained airworthy.<\/p>\n

“If you saw what I saw last night, you would be very impressed. I’m not sure you’ll ever see it, but it was incredible. Not a single American service member was killed, and not a single American piece of equipment was lost,” Trump said.<\/p>\n

A source familiar with the matter said several service members suffered bullet and shrapnel wounds, but none were life-threatening.<\/p>\n

The role of intelligence services<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Journalists have reported that the CIA secretly deployed a small team to Venezuela over the summer to track Maduro’s movements, helping to pinpoint the Venezuelan leader’s exact location and sleeping quarters.<\/p>\n

The assets included a CIA source who worked inside the Venezuelan government and helped the United States track Maduro’s whereabouts and movements before his capture.<\/p>\n

“The CIA secretly introduced a small team to Venezuela over the summer that was able to provide a deep understanding of Maduro’s lifestyle that made it so easy to capture him when the time came,” said a source familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

An elite FBI unit, the Hostage Rescue Team, also assisted in the capture of the Venezuelan leader, embedding itself within the U.S. military as part of a special operation.<\/p>\n

Warning to other officials<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Trump warned other Venezuelan political and military figures linked to the Maduro regime. He also stressed that the US embargo on Venezuelan oil remains in place.<\/p>\n

“All political and military figures in Venezuela must understand that what happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them, if they are not fair even to their own people,” the president said.<\/p>\n

Trump added that the US is leaving all military options on the table until America’s demands are fully met. The US Navy remains on alert in the region.<\/p>\n

Oil infrastructure plans<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The president announced plans to bring in American oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s energy infrastructure, claiming the corporations would “spend billions of dollars” on the project.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to ask our very large United States oil companies, the largest in the world, to come in, spend billions of dollars, repair the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” he said.<\/p>\n

Trump also said that the repairs would be “paid for directly by the oil companies.” Venezuela has vast reserves of crude oil.<\/p>\n

Congressional Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued that the military mission was not the type of operation that could be notified to Congress in advance. He explained that it was a trigger-based mission where conditions had to be met night after night.<\/p>\n

“This is just not the type of mission that can be announced in advance because it jeopardizes the mission,” Rubio told reporters in Florida.<\/p>\n

The reporters reported that, according to multiple sources, the administration informed Congressional leadership and key committees about the operation after the fact. Trump added that “Congress has a tendency to leak.”<\/p>\n

Negotiations with Maduro<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rubio said Maduro had received “several very, very, very generous offers” to leave power, but “decided instead to act like a savage” and “play around.”<\/p>\n

“He had several opportunities to find his way somewhere else. Instead, he wanted to play the big guy,” Rubio said.<\/p>\n

Trump said Maduro “wanted to negotiate at the end” and “was trying hard to make a deal.”<\/p>\n

“I didn’t want to negotiate. I said, ‘No, we have to do this,'” Trump said.<\/p>\n

Maduro’s current location<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Maduro is currently aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, en route to New York. He is expected to make a brief stop at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay before being transferred to New York.<\/p>\n

Trump posted a photo of Maduro aboard the ship shortly before the press conference. The image shows the Venezuelan leader in a gray Nike tracksuit, holding a bottle of water, his eyes covered by a black bandage and large headphones over his ears. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis told reporters that Maduro is likely being held in an officers’ quarters with his wife. Marines are likely posted at the door of the room.<\/p>\n

Accusations against Maduro<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The U.S. Department of Justice has released a new indictment against Maduro, his wife and son. The Venezuelan leader is expected to arrive in New York today and will likely be taken to a federal detention center in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

The earliest he will appear in court in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan is Monday. Maduro was indicted in that district in 2020, and an additional indictment was unsealed Saturday.<\/p>\n

The 25-page indictment outlines an alleged conspiracy by Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro’s son Guerra, two Venezuelan government officials and the leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.<\/p>\n

The charges include four counts: narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and a conspiracy count. Prosecutors allege that cocaine traffickers may have paid a portion of their profits to Maduro and other politicians in exchange for law enforcement cover and logistical support for their cocaine shipments.<\/p>\n

Opposition reaction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Venezuelan opposition politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said the time has come for “popular sovereignty” in Venezuela and the installation of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia as the country’s leader.<\/p>\n

“Nicolas Maduro will face international justice starting today for the horrific crimes committed against Venezuelans and citizens of many other countries,” Machado wrote in a letter to the people of Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Machado said that Gonzalez was elected as the legitimate president of Venezuela in the 2024 presidential election. She added that he “must immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as commander-in-chief of the national armed forces.”<\/p>\n

Monroe Doctrine Statement<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Trump said his administration had “surpassed” the principles set forth in the Monroe Doctrine, which he called the “Donro document.”<\/p>\n

“For decades, other administrations have ignored or even facilitated these growing security threats in the Western Hemisphere. Under the Trump administration, we are reasserting American power in a very powerful way in our home region,” Trump said.<\/p>\n

The president also offered justification for the United States’ intervention, saying that Venezuela had “increasingly been hosting foreign adversaries in our region and acquiring threatening offensive weapons that could threaten U.S. interests and lives.”<\/p>\n

Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga reacted to the United States’ strike on Venezuela<\/a> and the detention of dictator Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n

Earlier, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said that Nicolas Maduro would face justice \u201cfor his crimes.\u201d<\/a> Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that Nicolas Maduro and his wife had been captured and taken out of Venezuela.<\/a> <\/p>\n

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Recall that US President Donald Trump ordered strikes on targets inside Venezuela<\/a> on Saturday, January 3. The Venezuelan government subsequently declared a state of emergency in the country due to the American attack<\/a> .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Also follow \u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> , and Instagram<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump said the United States would temporarily rule Venezuela after President Nicolas Maduro was seized in a massive military operation. U.S. forces detained the Venezuelan leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, in their bedroom during an overnight raid. This is reported by CNN . During a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":1340156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76875,76870],"class_list":["post-1340165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-other-news","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1340165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1340165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1340165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1340156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1340165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1340165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}