Live Updates: U.S. Military Strikes Caracas, Venezuela Says

 

Live Updates: U.S. Military Strikes Caracas, Venezuela Says

 

President Nicolás Maduro denounced what he called an “imperialist attack” after explosions were heard at a military base in the Venezuelan capital. The Trump administration has been building pressure on Mr. Maduro for months.

 

Anatoly Kurmanaev

Updated

Jan. 3, 2026, 3:40 a.m. ET1 minute ago

Anatoly KurmanaevReporting from Venezuela

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/03/world/trump-united-states-strikes-venezuela

 

Here’s the latest.

The government of Venezuela accused the United States on Saturday of carrying out military attacks in the capital, Caracas, and other parts of the country, hours after large explosions were reported at a military base in the city.

 

President Nicolás Maduro declared a state of emergency in response to the attacks, a statement from the Venezuelan communications ministry said. The government said the attacks had occurred in Caracas and in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.

 

Venezuela “rejects, repudiates and denounces” U.S. military aggression, the statement said. It also called on “on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”

 

The explosions came after months of threats, warnings and accusations of drug smuggling from President Trump and the U.S. government, all aimed at Mr. Maduro, whom the State Department has branded the head of a “narco-terrorist” state.

 

Top Trump aides have pushed to oust Mr. Maduro, a self-described socialist who has led Venezuela since 2013. U.S. officials have called him an illegitimate leader and have accused him of controlling criminal groups tied to drug trafficking, charges he denies.

 

Since late August, the Pentagon has amassed troops, aircraft and warships in the Caribbean. The U.S. military has attacked many small vessels that U.S. officials maintained were smuggling drugs, killing at least 115 people. And the C.I.A. conducted a drone strike on a port facility in Venezuela last month, according to people briefed on the operation, a development that suggested that an aggressive new phase of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against the Maduro government had begun.

 

A broad range of experts on the use of lethal force have said that the strikes on small vessels amount to illegal extrajudicial killings, but the Trump administration has asserted they are consistent with the laws of war because the United States is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels.

 

In recent weeks, the United States has also carried out a campaign against tankers carrying Venezuelan crude, throwing the country’s oil industry into disarray and jeopardizing the government’s main source of revenue.

 

The United States seized one sanctioned tanker carrying oil as it sailed from Venezuela toward Asia. It intercepted another oil vessel that was not under U.S. sanctions. And the U.S. Coast Guard tried to board a third tanker as it was on the way to Venezuela to pick up cargo.

 

Here is what else to know:

U.S. buildup in the region: Last month, C-17 cargo planes — largely used for transporting military troops and equipment — conducted at least 16 flights to Puerto Rico from American military bases, according to flight tracking data. The U.S. Southern Command has said that some 15,000 troops are already deployed in the Caribbean, one of the largest naval deployments to the region in decades.

 

Venezuela’s defenses: On paper, Venezuela seems to have stout defenses, including Iranian cruise missiles, Russian surface-to-air missiles, Chinese armored vehicles and even some aging American F-16 fighter jets. But experts say Venezuela’s armed forces lack experience and are plagued with problems like poorly maintained weaponry, lack of training and desertions.

 

Maduro’s security: The Venezuelan president has tightened his inner circle, trying to protect himself from a potential targeted strike or a special-forces raid by frequently changing sleeping locations and cellphones. For years, U.S. officials have said Cuban security officers help Mr. Maduro maintain a tight hold on the top ranks of his government, and the military in particular.

 

C.I.A. authorization: The Trump administration had already authorized the C.I.A. to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela and other covert action in the Caribbean, according to U.S. officials. The agency has a long history of intervening in Latin America, including in assassination plots and the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

 

Cartel accusations: In March 2020, Mr. Maduro was indicted in the United States on charges that he oversaw a violent drug organization known as Cartel de los Soles. U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Mr. Maduro is actually at odds with one group, Tren de Aragua, and analysts say the Cartel de Los Soles does not exist as a concrete organization. The term has been used to refer to the involvement of many high-ranking military officers in the drug trade, though there is no evidence that Mr. Maduro directs the effort.