Early in the morning of January 3, 2026, residents of Caracas, Venezuela, awoke to bombs falling from the night sky. Gunshots rang out near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s presidential compound. Mere hours later, United States President Donald Trump announced that Maduro was in custody aboard the USS Iwo Jima.

Ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro spent the night in jail after he appeared in a U.S. courtroom — as questions linger about President Trump's plans for Venezuela.

Trump sets his military operation in Venezuela to the soundtrack of "Fortunate Son," a song about how the people who start wars are not the ones who pay its costs, it's ordinary working-class Americans who fight and die and pay the price https://t.co/vudQXE7QM6

Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented on the Trump administration's plans for Venezuela during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week." GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: President Trump was pretty clear yesterday.

President Donald Trump committed Saturday to U.S. military rule in Venezuela for the foreseeable future after an early morning military strike and ground operation captured authoritarian ruler Nicolás Maduro, who is being transported to New York to stand trial on narco-trafficking charges.

The capture of Nicolás Maduro is a devastating blow to the alliance between Venezuela and Cuba. Many wonder if the island nation will be targeted next.

The arrest of Nicolás Maduro has thrown one of the world's most politically fraught oil industries back into focus, forcing investors to reassess who controls Venezuela's crude resources and whether they can be meaningfully revived after decades of decline.

She is a Maduro loyalist, a “ hardline socialist ,” and has close ties to Cuba’s intelligence agency. The New York Times described her “impeccable leftist credentials” as the “daughter of a Marxist guerrilla who won fame for kidnapping an American businessman.

The future of Venezuela is uncertain after the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro. The vice president is now in charge, but she hasn't indicated she'll fall in step with President Trump.

The threat of a partial blockade marks an escalation in the Trump administration's pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. It also raises questions about whether the U.S. and Venezuela are edging closer to a direct military conflict.

Who will lead Venezuela now that Nicolás Maduro is in U.S. custody? That answer may not be as simple as it seems.