【Military Second Dimension】 Author: Taibai

According to the latest statement released by U.S. President Trump, Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been captured by the U.S. military. They were taken away by U.S. military helicopters from the capital Caracas, marking a major victory in the U.S. ground military blockade operation against Venezuela.

▲ Reward notice for Maduro

Trump stated that this arrest operation was "fast and successful," with the core goal being to end Maduro's "illegitimate rule." Currently, the White House and the Pentagon have not officially confirmed the details of the operation, but U.S. Defense Secretary Hagel said, "The operation has been completed, and U.S. forces will gradually withdraw from the surrounding areas of Venezuela." According to Polymarket institution's prediction data, as Maduro was arrested, the probability of "the end of U.S.-Venezuelan conflict" has risen to 85%.

It is speculated that at around 3 a.m. on January 3, the U.S. military first launched a large-scale cruise missile attack on multiple key locations in the capital of Venezuela, followed by the deployment of helicopters to accurately locate Maduro's hiding place. The entire operation was as efficient and decisive as the U.S. military's killing of Osama bin Laden, quickly taking Maduro away and boarding the plane. The confirmed information shows that U.S. special forces' helicopters collaborated in this arrest mission, involving models including the "Apache" attack helicopter and the CH-47 "Chinook" helicopter. The former was responsible for air cover, while the latter undertook the task of transporting Maduro.

▲ U.S. military raid

After the president was arrested, the Venezuelan defense minister issued a statement condemning the action as "a criminal military aggression by the U.S. government." However, the statement did not mention Maduro's future fate, only confirming that the country entered an emergency state and activated the mobilization mechanism. However, the response came too late.

Without the president, the loyalty of the Venezuelan army became uncertain, and the government was likely to soon fall into power struggles. Maduro's absence directly caused a power vacuum in the Venezuelan government, while Trump had already prepared a backup plan: supporting a transitional government, then promoting a new regime through so-called "legal elections" under U.S. support. This transitional government, viewed by the outside world as a U.S. puppet, would most likely transfer a large amount of national interests, especially oil interests, to the United States. Now that Maduro has fallen into the hands of the U.S., the current regime in Venezuela has essentially become a dead man walking. Even if the Venezuelan defense minister wanted to plan a counterattack, he lacked the necessary strength. It is worth noting that the U.S. has accused Maduro of involvement in fentanyl trafficking, and the U.S. has classified fentanyl as a "mass destruction weapon." In this context, Maduro may follow in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein, facing U.S. humiliation, judicial trials, and finally execution by hanging.

▲ Venezuelan army was powerless

Before the incident, there were various speculations about how the U.S. would overthrow the Venezuelan regime. Some imagined large-scale armed conflicts, while others predicted that the naval blockade action would spread to ground military operations. However, in reality, the U.S. ultimately took a special military action targeting Maduro himself.

It is puzzling that the capital of Venezuela is heavily garrisoned with a well-established air defense system, with main equipment including advanced models such as the Russian S-300VM, "Buk"-M2E, and "Kulak"-S1. However, faced with the U.S. large-scale missile strikes and helicopter aerial raids, these air defense forces hardly reacted. There is currently no official report or video shot by civilians that can confirm the launch of interception actions by the Venezuelan air defense missile systems. When the U.S. military helicopters executed the mission, their flight altitude was low, and according to common sense, they should have been detected by the radar system before entering Venezuelan airspace. Experts from the website "The War Zone" analyzed that the previous missile strike "probably destroyed or suppressed the Venezuelan air defense system," and it is also possible that the U.S. used electronic interference methods to disable the enemy's air defense early warning capabilities.

▲ The S-300 of Venezuela was powerless

Various news reports further indicated that during the operation, the U.S. special forces did not engage in any firefights with Maduro's security team, including the presidential guard and the Bolivarian militia forces. The public generally suspects that these security forces never discovered the presence of the U.S. forces, thus failing to make any defensive reaction in time.

▲ Wagner members near Maduro

It is worth mentioning that there have been news reports stating that there is a special force from Russia, the Wagner Group, around Maduro. The public originally expected these experienced Russian fighters to protect Maduro and get him safely transferred to Moscow when the crisis arose, just like how Russia protected Assad during the turmoil in Syria.

▲ Chinese envoy just met Maduro

However, the Wagner members also failed to anticipate this situation and remained unresponsive. The "millions of troops" that Venezuela has always promoted proved to be so sluggish and numb in actual combat, and even the Russian intelligence system seemed to have problems, which left people speechless. Strictly speaking, the U.S. military operation was not a "sudden attack," because the tense situation between the U.S. and Venezuela had officially escalated since last July and August.

But after half a year of military preparation, when everyone thought that Russia and Venezuela had made all the preparations, and even China had sent envoys to strengthen relations with Maduro, Maduro was still taken away by U.S. special forces via helicopter, which exceeded everyone's expectations. Many people also took the opportunity to joke that if Russia had taken similar actions against Zelensky when the Ukraine war broke out in 2022, then the phrase "1 hour and 22 minutes" might not have been used to describe the U.S. military.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/7591135256154047010/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.