The latest major news about the Venezuelan president is not something done by him, but rather to him: Nicolás Maduro has reportedly been captured and removed from Venezuela during large-scale U.S. military strikes ordered by President Donald Trump on January 3, 2026.

Quick Scoop

  • The United States launched coordinated airstrikes across Venezuela, including around Caracas, under an operation publicly framed as removing Maduro from power.
  • Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores had been “captured and flown out of the country” and would face narcoterrorism-related charges in U.S. courts.
  • The Venezuelan government declared a national state of emergency, called the strikes “imperialist aggression,” urged supporters to take to the streets, and demanded proof that Maduro is still alive.

What “the Venezuelan president did” recently

If the question is what Maduro himself did , the key recent actions attributed to him inside Venezuela just before and during the crisis include:

  • Declared emergency and defense measures
    • Maduro ordered national defense plans into effect and declared a state of emergency in response to escalating U.S. pressure and then to the January 3 strikes.
* That emergency framework allowed expanded powers for the armed forces and restrictions on civil rights in the name of external defense.
  • Framing the conflict and seeking backing
    • Maduro’s government publicly denounced U.S. measures (including prior sanctions and military buildup) as extremely serious aggression threatening both Venezuela and regional stability.
* He and his allies pushed the narrative of _“poor Venezuelans against the empire,”_ seeking sympathy from regional leaders such as those in Brazil and Colombia and from international institutions like the U.N.
  • Prior political posture
    • For months leading up to this, Maduro faced growing international accusations of running a narco‑terrorist state and being at the center of the so‑called “Cartel de los Soles,” with U.S. officials signaling he could be treated as the head of a terrorist organization.
* Analysts describe him as having systematically weakened democratic institutions and repressed opposition for over a decade, using negotiations mainly to prolong his hold on power.

How forums and commentators are talking about it

Online discussions and expert commentary tend to split into a few main viewpoints about what Maduro did and what is happening now :

  1. Maduro as authoritarian narco‑ruler
    • This view emphasizes long‑term repression, alleged narcotrafficking ties, and election manipulation, arguing that his own actions “invited” international intervention.
  1. Maduro as victim of U.S. overreach
    • Here, the focus is on U.S. strikes as illegal regime change, with critics saying Washington violated international law and set a dangerous precedent by unilaterally abducting a sitting president.
  1. Negotiated exit theory
    • Some opposition‑aligned sources suggest Maduro’s capture may have been at least partly a negotiated exit rather than a pure battlefield snatch, implying behind‑the‑scenes deals for his surrender.
  1. Oil and control narrative
    • Another recurring theme is that U.S. motives are tied to oil, especially after Trump said the U.S. would be “very strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry and that “the stolen oil must be returned.”

Why this is a trending topic now

  • The combination of:
    • unilateral U.S. military action,
    • the capture and extraction of a sitting president, and
    • open statements about “running” Venezuela and reshaping its oil sector
      makes this one of the most-talked-about geopolitical stories of early 2026.
  • International organizations and regional governments are now debating:
    • the legality of the operation,
    • the precedent for removing leaders by force, and
    • what comes next for Venezuelan institutions and the opposition figures hoping to shape a transition.

TL;DR: In the very latest news, it is less about what the Venezuelan president did and more that Nicolás Maduro was seized and removed from Venezuela during U.S. strikes, after years of authoritarian rule, criminal accusations, and emergency measures he enacted to cling to power.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.