Why Trump has invaded into Venezuela and captured Maduro?

Basanta Chakma - Department of Criminology ,University of Dhaka.

On the very early morning of 3 January 2026, at 2.01 a.m., a terrifying moment happened in Caracas: the capital of Venezuela witnessed its president get captured by US military forces. The invasion was so speedy that it took just 30 minutes to capture Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. This mission has been led by US president Donald Trump. 

"Every moment I have watched of capturing Maduro," Trump stated after apprehending Maduro in a press statement. What are the reasons behind flying him out to the US? Well, there are a lot of covert reasons that have worked behind it; US president Donald Trump has been threatening Maduro and his administration since long days ago. On the last day of September 2, the US military forces attacked Venezuela's oil-loaded vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific, accusing Venezuela of trafficking drugs to the US shores; more than 30 strikes had been conducted and killed more than 110 people. White House imposing vessels were fully loaded with drugs and deliberately delivered; they are trying to bring poisons to our shores... Destroying American lives. President Trump argues that during financial repression and economic instability in Venezuela, hundreds of thousands of people had migrated into the US in 2013 without presenting any proven documents. Therefore, he claims, "Maduro was pulling prisoners from their asylums and forcing them to migrate to the USA."

 

Two terrorist organizations designated by Trump, Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) are reportedly led by Maduro himself. In response, Maduro vehemently declined this allegation against him and claimed that Trump becomes deadly trying to depose him, showing such an excuse. On August 7, 2025, Trump announced a bounty regarding the information that led to Maduro's capture. The amount has been doubled from $25 million to $50 million US dollars. Before Maduro's capture, Trump reportedly said that "Maduro is not a friend of the US."

To ramp up financial pressure on Venezuela, Trump also restricts naval ways so that oil-carrying vessels could not be active in trading oil. Trump named it "total naval blockade," which was a really hard strategy for Venezuela because oil is the principal revenue for the Maduro government. Even though Trump openly accuses Maduro and his government of being a narco-state, the secret reason is Venezuela's vast oil production. It becomes uncovered following Trump's announcement at a press conference from his Mar‑a‑Lago resort in Florida saying that "Now the US is going to run Venezuela until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition." Trump imposes Maduro's indictment for a narco-terrorism conspiracy; soon he is going to appear in the U.S. federal court system.