U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan “Razin” Caine said on Saturday that the United States’ execution of the operation to capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro was “months in the making.”
“This operation, known as Operation Absolute Resolve, was discreet, precise and conducted during the darkest hours of January 2, and was the culmination of months of planning and rehearsal — an operation that, frankly, only the United States military could undertake,” he said during a press conference.
Maduro, his wife, and four others have been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy-related charges, according to an unsealed federal indictment posted online by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“While the past two decades have honed the skills of our special operations forces, this particular mission required every component of our joint force with soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Guardians working in unison with our intelligence agency partners and law enforcement teammates in an unprecedented operation,” Gen. Caine explained.
“We leveraged our unmatched intelligence capabilities and our years of experience in hunting terrorists, and we could not have done this mission without the incredible work by various intelligence agencies, including the CIA, NSA, and NGA.”
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“This was an audacious operation that only the United States could do,” he continued. “It required the utmost of precision and integration within our joint force — and the word integration does not explain the sheer complexity of such a mission.”
The operation involved “150 aircraft launching across the Western Hemisphere in close coordination, all coming together in time and place to layer effects for a single purpose: to get an interdiction force into downtown Caracas while maintaining the element of tactical surprise,” Caine said.
“Failure of one component of this well-oiled machine would have endangered the entire mission, and failure is never an option for America’s joint force,” he added.
“Those in the air over Caracas last night were willing to give their lives for those on the ground and in the helicopters,” he added.
Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: “This operation, known as Operation Absolute Resolve, was discreet, precise, and… the culmination of months of planning and rehearsal — an operation that, frankly, only the United States military could undertake.” pic.twitter.com/VdcL5kbu7j
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 3, 2026
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