Trump Declares Major Victory as US Forces Capture Venezuelan President
In a bold assertion of American military dominance, former President Donald Trump claimed that United States forces successfully overpowered Russian and Chinese military technology in Venezuela to oust and capture sitting President Nicolas Maduro from a fortified complex in Caracas. Trump, flaunting American strength, delivered sharp taunts against rival power centers in Moscow and Beijing during what he described as a historic operation.
Operation Absolute Resolve: A Colossal Military Achievement
Trump mocked the advanced Russian and Chinese military systems deployed by Venezuela, stating they utterly failed to prevent the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by US forces under Operation Absolute Resolve. Delivering the longest-ever State of the Union address, Trump took a pointed jab, saying, “This was a major military installation, protected by thousands of soldiers and guarded by Russian and Chinese military technologies. How did that go for them?”
He emphasized that American armed forces overwhelmed all enemy defenses to end what he called the reign of dictator Nicolas Maduro and bring him to justice. “This was an absolutely colossal victory for the security of the US and a bright new beginning for the people of Venezuela,” Trump declared, underlining collaboration from the Venezuelan government following the operation.
Surprise Guest and Unprecedented Legal Action
As a symbolic gesture, Trump invited Venezuelan opposition politician Enrique Márquez to the address as a surprise guest. Márquez, who had been held as a political prisoner, was recently freed under an amnesty effort by the interim Venezuelan government after Maduro’s ouster. The strike demonstrated that US weapons and equipment remain highly effective, according to regional officials and defense analysts.
The United States deployed more than 150 aircraft and integrated electronic attack systems alongside other non-kinetic capabilities to suppress Venezuelan defenses and secure the capture. Both Maduro and Flores were flown to the United States to face federal charges, including narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine, in a rare and unprecedented legal action against a sitting head of state.
Failure of Chinese and Russian Defense Systems
According to the Indo-Pacific Defense Forum, Beijing sold its JY-27A radar to Venezuela and other countries, promoting it as capable of detecting stealth aircraft. The Chinese government claimed the long-range radar was reliable, mobile, and resistant to jamming, with state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation stating it could detect stealth aircraft at nearly 400 kilometers.
However, during the US operation, the radar failed to detect American fighter jets and helicopters, allowing special operations forces to reach Caracas without resistance, as reported by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Venezuela had also invested about $2 billion in Russian S-300 air defense missiles, support radar, and communications systems linked to the Chinese radar, along with Pantsir-S1 gun-missile hybrids designed to counter drones and helicopters.
Analysts noted that neither the S-300s nor the Pantsir-S1 fired during the operation, marking a significant failure for Chinese- and Russian-made defense systems. This episode is particularly damaging for Beijing, which actively markets its high-tech military equipment to foreign buyers, raising questions about the reliability of such systems in real-world scenarios.
