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Maduro jailed in New York after audacious raid and capture

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Maduro has now been brought to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn, according to US media – more on that in a moment. 

Here is a summary of the most significant developments in the past 24 hours:

  • A plane believed to have been carrying Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, landed in New York on Saturday evening. Maduro was taken to the US Drug Enforcement Administration offices and is now believed to be at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
  • A video, posted on social media by the White House’s official rapid response account, appeared to show Maduro handcuffed and escorted by agents at the US Drug Enforcement Administration offices. In the video, Maduro, who is wearing a black hooded top and hat, walks down a hallway with a carpet that says “DEA NYD”. He can be heard saying “Goodnight” and “Happy new year”.

  • Donald Trump told a press conference on Saturday “We’re going to run the country [Venezuela] until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition”. He did not give further details.
  • The US is going to be “very strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry after the military operation, Trump said. “We have the greatest oil companies in the world, the biggest, the greatest, and we’re going to be very much involved in it.”
  • Trump said his administration had not spoken to Venezuela’s exiled opposition leader María Corina Machado. He said he did not think she would be able to return to lead Venezuela, saying: “She does not have the support in Venezuela. She is a very nice woman but she does not have the support.”
  • Venezuela’s supreme court has ordered vice president Delcy Rodríguez to assume the role of acting president in Maduro’s absence.
  • Asked about Trump’s comment that the US will “run” Venezuela temporarily, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS News: “President Trump sets the terms … But it means the drugs stop flowing. It means the oil that was taken from us is returned, ultimately, and that criminals are not sent to the United States.”
  • The UN security council is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday.
  • The UN secretary general, António Guterres, is deeply alarmed by US military action in Venezuela, his spokesperson has said, and considered the US intervention “a dangerous precedent”.
  • The New York Times reported that at least 40 people, including civilians and soldiers, were killed in Saturday’s attack. The estimate came from a senior Venezuelan official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

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