AIRCRAFT STRUCK SITES across the Venezuelan capital of Caracas in the hours before US President Trump announced that American forces had captured Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

Trump has since released a photo of Maduro blindfolded on an American warship stationed in the Caribbean Sea. Maduro and his wife are then set to be taken to New York where US Attorney General Pam Bondi says the two will face drug and weapons charges and “the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts”.

The Venezuelan authorities have not yet released details about the scale of the damage or casualties in Caracas. In a televised address, Venezuela’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced an immediate deployment of military forces across the country. 

The Maduro regime and its brand of chavismo have long been supported by a network of military leaders and well-armed urban and rural militias, alongside the Colombian rebel group ELN, which are now facing a power vacuum left by the US seizure of Maduro.

López called for a united front of resistance in the face of “the worst aggression” ever against Venezuela and said the country was following “Maduro’s orders” that all armed forces be deployed. The Defence Minister said: “They’ve attacked us, but they will not subdue us.” 

A clear justification for the US military operation in Caracas has not yet been offered, while no congressional approval was sought by the Trump administration for an act of war against Venezuela. Without the approval of the US Congress, Trump’s actions violate US law – even George W. Bush sought and received congressional approval for America’s disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003. 

In response to criticism by Democrats regarding the lack of congressional approval, Trump said in a Fox News interview: “They should say great job.

“They shouldn’t say ‘Oh, gee, maybe it’s not constitutional.’ You know the same old stuff that we’ve been hearing for years and years and years.”

The unprecedented military operation in Caracas to........

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