Venezuelan president reached safe-room door but was ‘unable to close it’ before US capture
Eric Martin, Natalia Drozdiak and Courtney McBride
Updated
Washington | US commandos took less than three hours to bring an end to Nicolás Maduro’s rule after the Venezuelan strongman spent years holding out against rising pressure from the US.
More than 150 US aircraft swept into the country after the US neutralised Venezuela’s air defences, with an Army Delta Force unit delivered to the military base where Maduro was spending the night. They broke through the steel doors and grabbed him and his wife before the couple could reach a safe room, spiriting them by helicopter to a warship, where he was to be transferred for trial in New York.