One of the helicopters carrying Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores arrives after they were captured overnight in Venezuela by U.S. forces, at the Westside Heliport in New York City on Saturday, 2026.
9:59 JST, January 4, 2026
NEWSBURGH, N.Y. — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived Saturday evening at a military base in the United States after his capture by US forces in Caracas.
A photograph which U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account shows what he describes as Venezuelan President “Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima” amphibious assault ship, currently in the Caribbean Sea, Saturday. The image appears to be taken from a printed photograph, as white edging can be seen around the image. What appears to be the letters DEA can be seen on a black uniformed person next to Venezuelan president Maduro. U.S. president Trump said DEA officials were involved in the operation. Verifying the location was not immediately possible as the photograph is tightly cropped. But the patterning of grey hairs within Maduro’s mustache matched recent imagery of him.
Maduro was seen surrounded by FBI agents as he descended the boarding stairs of a US government plane at a New York state National Guard facility, and was slowly escorted along the tarmac.
The leftist leader was expected to be flown by helicopter to New York City, where he faces drug trafficking charges.
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