Eric Shawn is joined by Fox News correspondents Chanley Painter and Lucas Tomlinson to discuss details of the capture of Venezuelan Leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife by U.S. Special Forces in the early morning of Jan. 3rd, 2026.

In an extraordinary military operation, the United States launched a large-scale military operation in Caracas, Venezuela, early Saturday, with Special Forces seizing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. There is a pending 2020 indictment of Maduro in the Southern District of New York, where he is expected to be taken to face prosecution.

The operation comes not long after the 37th anniversary of the capture of Manuel Antonio Noriega on Dec. 20, 1989. Noriega was convicted of drug and money laundering offenses and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was tried in Miami.

Acting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro waves to supporters as he leaves after voting for the successor to the late President Hugo Chavez, in Caracas on April 14, 2013.  (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Maduro was indicted in a four-count superseding indictment with Diosdado Cabello Rondón, 56, head of Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly; Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios aka "El Pollo," 59, former director of military intelligence; Clíver Antonio Alcalá Cordones, 58, former General in the Venezuelan armed forces; Luciano Marín Arango aka "Ivan Marquez," 64, a member of the FARC’s Secretariat, which is the FARC’s highest leadership body; and Seuxis Paucis Hernández Solarte aka "Jesús Santrich," 53, a member of the FARC’s Central High Command, which is the FARC’s second-highest leadership body.

This operation will be justified as executing the criminal warrant and responding to an international drug cartel, a very similar legal framework to the one used against Noriega. There is precedent supporting that earlier operation, which will now be used to defend the actions in Venezuela.

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Here is part of the earlier description from the Justice Department of the indicted conduct:

"Maduro helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. As he gained power in Venezuela, Maduro participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the........

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