“The United States of America has successfully launched a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been captured and flown out of the country along with his wife,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“This operation was carried out in cooperation with US law enforcement authorities,” he added.
In a brief telephone interview with The New York Times, Trump expressed his appreciation for the operation, which he described as outstanding.
“A lot of good planning and a lot of great, great soldiers and great people,” the paper quoted Trump as saying.
Trump’s announcement follows months of steadily increasing US military and economic pressure on leftist leader Maduro and his country’s oil-exported economy.
The US president said in December that it would be “wise” for Maduro to step down and has also said that the Venezuelan leader’s “days are numbered”.
The United States military has stepped up its crackdown on suspected drug-trafficking vessels. On Friday, Venezuela said it was ready to negotiate with the United States on an anti-drug-trafficking treaty.
Maduro said in an interview broadcast Thursday that the United States wants to force Venezuela to change its government and gain access to its vast oil reserves through a months-long pressure campaign that began with a massive military deployment to the Caribbean in August.
The US has accused Maduro of narco-terrorism.
On Monday, Trump announced that the United States had destroyed a dock used by Venezuelan drug traffickers to load ships. Maduro has neither confirmed nor denied Monday’s strike.
Trump has threatened for months that he could soon order strikes on targets inside Venezuela. The US has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump has ordered the blockade of other tankers in what appears to be an effort to curb the South American country’s economy.
The US military has carried out numerous strikes on ships in both the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific since September, targeting what Washington says are drug smugglers.
However, the US administration has not provided any evidence that the ships are involved in drug trafficking, which in turn raises debate about the legality of these operations.
International law experts and human rights organizations say the strikes appear to be extrajudicial killings. Washington denies this.
At least 115 people have been killed in at least 305 strikes in the deadly naval campaign, according to information released by the US military.
The attacks followed a significant increase in U.S. forces in the waters off the South American coast, including the deployment of the U.S.’s most advanced aircraft carrier there in November, adding thousands more troops to what was already the largest military presence in the region in generations.