CLARKSTON – The Clarkston Everest Collegiate Mountaineers dropped a Catholic High School League crossover matchup to the Jackson Lumen Christi Titans, 56-45, at home Saturday afternoon.

The Mountaineers hung tough early, but a 10-0 run that bridged the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter put the Titans up 21-14, and Everest never led again.

Everest put up a fight to the end, finishing the game on a 7-0 run of its own and outscoring the Titans in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late for the hosts. They came into the game shorthanded, having only seven players available in their first game returning from the holiday break.

Nolan Alban and Dominic Walker each scored 13 points to lead Everest, while Sean Felix had nine points and seven rebounds. Additionally, Benjamin Sasak contributed seven points and six rebounds.

But the Mountaineers never really got an offensive rhythm in this one, and they also had rebounding trouble. The Titans piled up a 33-25 edge on the glass and were particularly effective on the offense boards in the middle two periods when they build their lead.

“That will be a big focus moving forward, just doing a better job on the glass rebounding,” Everest head coach Richie Cross said.

The Mountaineers also had no answer for Jonathan Morgan, who poured in 28 points for Lumen Christi.

After a 24-2 campaign last year that saw the Mountaineers reach a regional final (they lost to eventual D4 semifinalist Allen Park Inter-City Baptist), the Mountaineers are off to another solid start, sitting at 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the CHSL Intersectional 1 Division despite returning only three players who saw significant minutes last year.

“We have one starter from that team and basically two other guys who played a lot of minutes for us,” Cross said. “We’re really fortunate to have a lot of guys that are committed three-sport athletes. I think that really helps on the competitive side, and it really pays off for us,” he added.

Photos of Clarkston Everest Collegiate vs. Jackson Lumen Christi in a CHSL boys hoops crossover

That has not stopped the Mountaineers from scheduling tough games, often against much bigger schools.

“To us, this is just another opportunity to play kind of a crossover in the Catholic League and we're just grateful for Lumen Christi agreeing to play us (and) making the drive,” Cross said. “I think we’ll get there, but we’ve just got to keep getting as much experience for all the guys stepping into bigger roles this year.”

Next up for Everest is a road test against Detroit Douglass on Wednesday before hosting Marine City Cardinal Mooney next Friday to resume CHSL play.

“They (Cardinal Mooney) are always good. They are kind of a rival in recent years just because they’re another good Division 4 program. So you seem them not only in the Catholic League but you see them sometimes in a regional or in the state tournament,” Cross said.

Jackson Lumen Christi used a 10-0 run in the first half to win 56-45 at Clarkston Everest Collegiate on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026.

By REGINA GARCIA CANO, JUAN ARRAEZ and ISABEL DEBRE, Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Uncertainty gripped Venezuela on Saturday as people scrambled to understand who was in charge of the South American country after a U.S. military operation captured President Nicolás Maduro.

“What will happen tomorrow? What will happen in the next hour? Nobody knows,” Caracas resident Juan Pablo Petrone said.

President Donald Trump delivered a shocking pick for who would take control: The United States, perhaps in coordination with one of Maduro’s most trusted aides.

Delcy Rodríguez has served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, overseeing much of Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy as well as its feared intelligence service. But she is someone the Trump administration apparently is willing to work with, at least for now.

“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump told reporters of Rodríguez, who faced U.S. sanctions during Trump’s first administration for her role in undermining Venezuelan democracy.

Long lines wound through supermarkets and outside gas stations as Venezuelans long used to crises stocked up once again. Small pro-government rallies broke out in parts of Caracas, but most streets remained empty in the nation of 29 million people.

In a major snub, Trump said opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, didn’t have the support to run the country.

Trump said Rodríguez had a long conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in which Trump claimed she said, “‘We’ll do whatever you need.’”

“I think she was quite gracious,” Trump added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”

Rodríguez tried to project strength and unity among the ruling party’s many factions, downplaying any hint of betrayal. In remarks on state TV, she demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and denounced the U.S. operation as a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter.

“There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro,” Rodríguez said, surrounded by top civilian officials and military commanders.

There was no immediate sign that the U.S. was running Venezuela.

No sign of a swearing-in

Trump indicated that Rodríguez had been sworn in already as president of Venezuela, per the transfer of power outlined in the constitution. However, state television has not broadcast any swearing-in ceremony.

In her televised address, Rodríguez did not declare herself acting president or mention a political transition. A ticker at the bottom of the screen identified her as the vice president. She gave no sign that she would be cooperating with the U.S.

“What is being done to Venezuela is an atrocity that violates international law,” she said. “History and justice will make the extremists who promoted this armed aggression pay.”

The Venezuelan constitution also says a new election must be called within a month in the event of the president’s absence. But experts have been debating whether the succession scenario would apply here, given the government’s lack of popular legitimacy and the extraordinary U.S. military intervention.

Venezuelan military officials were quick to project defiance in video messages.

“They have attacked us but will not break us,” said Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino López, dressed in fatigues.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello appeared on state TV in a helmet and flak jacket, urging Venezuelans to “trust in the political leadership and military” and “get out on the streets” to defend the country’s sovereignty.

“These rats attacked and they will regret what they did,” he said of the U.S.

Caracas residents like Yanire Lucas were left picking up shattered glass and other debris after an early-morning explosion in a military base next to her house.

“What is happening is unprecedented,” Lucas said, adding that her family is scared to leave home. “We’re still on edge, and now we’re uncertain about what to do.”

Strong ties with Wall Street

A lawyer educated in Britain and France, Rodríguez has a long history of representing the revolution started by the late Hugo Chávez on the world stage.

She and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, head of the Maduro-controlled National Assembly, have strong leftist credentials born from tragedy. Their father was a socialist leader who died in police custody in the 1970s, a crime that shook many activists of the era, including a young Maduro.

Unlike many in Maduro’s inner circle, the Rodríguez siblings have avoided criminal indictment in the U.S. Delcy Rodríguez has developed strong ties with Republicans in the oil industry and on Wall Street who balked at the notion of U.S.-led regime change.

Among her past interlocutors was Blackwater founder Erik Prince and, more recently, Richard Grenell, a Trump special envoy who tried to negotiate a deal with Maduro for greater U.S. influence in Venezuela.

Fluent in English, Rodríguez is sometimes portrayed as a well-educated moderate in contrast to the military hardliners who took up arms with Chávez against Venezuela’s democratically elected president in the 1990s.

Many of them, especially Cabello, are wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges and stand accused of serious human rights abuses. But they continue to hold sway over the armed forces, the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela.

That presents major challenges to Rodríguez asserting authority. But experts say that Venezuela’s power brokers have long had a habit of closing ranks behind their leaders.

“These leaders have all seen the value of staying united. Cabello has always taken a second seat or third seat, knowing that his fate is tied up with Maduro’s, and now he very well might do that again,” said David Smilde, a sociology professor at Tulane University who has conducted research into Venezuela’s political dynamics over the past three decades.

“A lot depends on what happened last night, which officials were taken out, what the state of the military looks like now,” Smilde said. “If it doesn’t have much firepower anymore, they’re more vulnerable and diminished and it will be easier for her to gain control.”

An apparent snub of the opposition

Shortly before Trump’s press conference, Machado, the opposition leader, called on her ally Edmundo González — a retired diplomat widely considered to have won the country’s disputed 2024 presidential election — to “immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as commander-in-chief.”

In an triumphant statement, Machado promised that her movement would “restore order, free political prisoners, build an exceptional country and bring our children back home.”

She added: “Today we are prepared to assert our mandate and take power.”

Asked about Machado, Trump was blunt: “I think it would be very tough for (Machado) to be the leader,” he said.

“She doesn’t have the support or respect within the country.”

Venezuelans expressed shock, with many speculating on social media that Trump had mixed up the two women’s names. Machado has not responded to Trump’s remarks.

Associated Press reporter Joshua Goodman contributed to this report from Miami. Debre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro and flew him out of the country early Saturday has also disrupted Caribbean travel at a busy travel time for the region.

No airline flights were crossing over Venezuela on Saturday, according to FlightRadar24.com. And major airlines canceled hundreds of flights across the eastern Caribbean region and warned passengers that the disruptions could continue for days after the Federal Aviation Administration imposed restrictions.

Flights to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Aruba and other destinations near Venezuela were canceled. The airlines are waiving change fees for passengers who have to reschedule their flights this weekend.

RELATED STORY | 'We are going to run the country,' Trump declares after capturing Maduro

The FAA had earlier said it imposed a temporary airspace restriction on Puerto Ricos international airport and surrounding regions.

An announcement by Luis Muoz Marn International Airport in San Juan posted on the social media site X said restrictions were put in place because of the security situation related to military activity in Venezuela.

As a result, most commercial airlines to and from the airport that are operated by U.S. airlines have been suspended or may be canceled.

Foreign airlines and military aircraft are not included in this restriction, the statement said. Passengers are urged to check the status of their flight directly with their airline before heading to the airport.

JetBlue said it canceled about 215 flights due to airspace closures across the Caribbean related to military activity. It also noted that flights to the Dominican Republic and Jamaica were not affected by the governments restrictions. Customers could rebook their travel or request a refund if the flights were canceled, the company said.

RELATED STORY | Timeline: From boat strikes to Caracas raid how U.S. forces captured Maduro

United said it was adjusting its schedule to account for airspace closures in the Venezuela region. It said customers could change their travel plans in the region for free as it continued to monitor the situation and worked with U.S. aviation authorities.

Southwest said it canceled all Aruba flights for Saturday and suspended Puerto Rico flights until late afternoon, but flights to the Dominican Republic were unaffected.

American said it was waiving change fees for flights to and from about 20 island destinations, including Anguilla, Antigua, Curacao, Saint Lucia and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.

Delta said it has issued a travel waiver for customers traveling to or from 13 impacted airports through Tuesday.

DETROIT (AP) — Bryan Rust and Yegor Chinakhov scored first-period goals and the Pittsburgh Penguins topped the Detroit Red Wings for the second time in three days, 4-1, on Saturday.

Sidney Crosby extended his point streak to six games with two assists. Crosby, who scored two goals on Thursday, has four goals and six assists during that stretch and 53 points in 40 career games against the Red Wings.

Parker Wotherspoon had two assists and Stuart Skinner made 11 saves for the Penguins.

Alex DeBrincat scored his team-leading 22nd goal for Detroit. John Gibson stopped 27 shots for the Red Wings, who are 5-2-1 over their last eight games.

The Penguins led 2-0 after the first period. Rust lifted a shot over Gibson’s left shoulder 3:44 into the game. Ben Kindel passed the puck out of his zone to Chinakhov, who got behind Detroit’s defense and converted on the breakaway with 2:30 remaining in the period.

DeBrincat scored on a breakaway with 4:54 remaining in the second period. He clanged a shot off the right post during a power play later in the period.

Rakell and Dewar scored their empty-netters in the final minute.

Up next

Red Wings: Visit Ottawa on Monday.

By LISA MASCARO, JOSHUA GOODMAN and BEN FINLEY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s capture of Venezuela’s president and claims that it will “run” the country are raising stark new questions about the legality of the U.S. actions and its future operations in the South American nation.

The middle-of-the-night seizure of Nicolás Maduro, who was transported with his wife on a U.S. warship to face narco-terrorism conspiracy charges in New York, is beyond even the most high-profile historical examples of aggressive American actions toward autocratic governments in Panama, Iraq and elsewhere, legal experts said. It came after a surprise U.S. incursion that rocked the Venezuelan capital with overnight explosions.

“This is clearly a blatant, illegal and criminal act,” said Jimmy Gurule, a Notre Dame Law School professor and former assistant U.S. attorney.

The stunning development caps months of aggressive U.S. military action in the region, including the bombing of boats accused of trafficking drugs and seizures of oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela. The Trump administration has conducted 35 known boat strikes against vessels, killing more than 115 people since September, and positioned an armada of warships in nearby waters.

The bigger debate than legality is yet to come, said John Yoo, an early architect of the George W. Bush administration’s policy in Iraq and now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

“It’s easier to remove a dictator,” he said, based on his experience in the Iraq War. But ensuring the transition to a stable democratic government is “the harder part.”

Maduro’s arrest on anniversary of Noriega’s surrender

Maduro’s arrest came 36 years to the date of the surrender of Panama’s strongman Manuel Noriega, a notable milestone in American involvement in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. invaded Panama in 1989 to arrest Noriega on drug trafficking charges.

In Panama, however, U.S. national security interests were directly at stake in the form of the Panama Canal as well as the safety of American citizens and U.S. military installations in the country.

By contrast, Congress has not authorized any American military strike or law enforcement move against Venezuela.

“The President will claim that this fits within a vast body of precedent supporting broad executive power to defend the United States, its citizens, and its interests,” Matthew Waxman, a Columbia University law professor who was a national security official in the Bush administration, said by email. “Critics will charge that this exceeds the bounds of presidential power without congressional authorization.”

While U.S. agents have a long history of snatching defendants abroad to execute arrest warrants without authorization, federal courts have long deferred to the White House in foreign policy and national security matters.

For example, U.S. bounty hunters, working under the direction of the Drug Enforcement Administration, in 1990 abducted in Mexico a doctor accused of killing DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.

“Courts give great deference to the president on issues related to national security,” said Gurule, who led the prosecution against Camarena’s killers. “But great deference does not mean absolute deference and unfettered authority to do anything.”

Congress has yet to authorize or ban US actions

Trump’s administration has declared the drug cartels operating from Venezuela to be unlawful combatants and has said the United States is now in an “armed conflict” with them, according to an administration memo obtained in October by The Associated Press.

The memo appears to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers, with Trump effectively declaring that trafficking of drugs into the U.S. amounts to armed conflict requiring the use of military force. That is a new rationale for past and future actions.

Congress, which has broad authority to approve or prohibit the president’s war powers, has failed to do either, even as lawmakers from both political parties grow increasingly uneasy with the military actions in the region, particularly after it was revealed that U.S. forces killed two survivors of a boat attack with a follow-up strike.

Congress’ Democratic leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, demanded immediate briefings for the “gang of eight” leaders on Capitol Hill, which includes top members of the Intelligence committees, as well as for other lawmakers. Congressional leaders were not notified of the actions until after the operation was underway.

“The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans,” Schumer said. “The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.”

Michael Schmitt, a former Air Force lawyer and professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College, said the entire operation — the boat strikes as well as the apprehension of Maduro — clearly violates international law.

“Lawyers call it international armed conflict,” Schmitt said. “Lay people call it war. So as a matter of law, we are now at war with Venezuela because the use of hostilities between two states clearly triggers an internal armed conflict.”

War powers vote ahead

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the administration “is working to schedule briefings” for lawmakers next week.

Republican lawmakers in Congress largely welcomed the capture of Maduro as ridding the region of a leader they say is responsible for drug trafficking, but Democratic lawmakers warned that in veering from the rule of law, the administration is potentially greenlighting other countries such as China or Russia to do the same.

“Beyond the legality, what kind of precedent does it send?” asked Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He said in an interview that the rebuilding plan ahead has echoes of the Iraq War as the Trump administration promises to use Venezuela’s oil revenue to pay the costs.

Waxman, the Columbia University law professor, said seizing control of Venezuela’s resources opens up additional legal issues: “For example, a big issue will be who really owns Venezuela’s oil?”

The Senate is expected to try again next week to curtail Trump’s actions, with a vote expected on a bipartisan war powers resolution that would block using U.S. forces against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he is grateful for the armed forces “who carried out this necessary action.” He said he spoke to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and wants more information.

“I look forward to receiving further briefings from the administration on this operation as part of its comprehensive counternarcotics strategy when the Senate returns to Washington next week,” Thune said.

Rubio said at a briefing Saturday with Trump that because of the nature of the surprise operation, it was not something that could be shared beforehand with the lawmakers.

Goodman reported from Miami.

Following the early Saturday operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro in Caracas, Democratic members of Congress lamented not being notified of the mission ahead of time.

Many Republicans, on the other hand, applauded the Trump administration for taking action to capture Maduro, who was indicted by the Department of Justice in 2020 on drug trafficking charges.

The Justice Department said Maduro and his wife, first lady Cilia Flores, will be tried in the Southern District of New York.

RELATED STORY | 'We are going to run the country,' Trump declares after capturing Maduro

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, suggested the raid might have violated the rule of law.

When we abandon those principles, even in the name of confronting bad actors, we weaken our credibility, endanger global stability and invite abuses of power that will long outlast any single presidency, Warner said.

PREVIOUS REPORTING WHAT'S BEHIND THE TENSION

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, offered a similar reaction.

The American people and Congress deserve transparency and real, concrete answers about what is happening in our own hemisphere, she said. We need to hear directly from the president on why his varying justifications to date warrant dragging America into an armed conflict without a clear end. We need to know how President Trump will prevent Maduros lieutenants and criminal gangs from filling the power vacuum that his unilateral action is likely to create.

Republicans, however, struck a more supportive tone toward the administrations approach.

RELATED STORY | Timeline: From boat strikes to Caracas raid how U.S. forces captured Maduro

I commend President Trump for ordering a successful mission to arrest illegitimate Venezuelan dictator Nicols Maduro and bring him to the United States to face justice, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said. Our military performed an incredibly complex mission with characteristic precision and professionalism. Today, we owe a debt of gratitude to the brave individuals who were able to accomplish such a daring operation.

Wicker added that his committee would convene as soon as possible to discuss the raid.

It has been customary, though not always followed, to notify the socalled Gang of Eight members of Congress of covert operations. The group includes the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, in addition to the House and Senate party leaders.

While in practice the full Congress is often briefed before major military action, the Pentagon can limit briefings to the Gang of Eight when actions are considered covert.

The Trump administration has argued that the operation to capture Maduro was a law enforcement action carried out with assistance from the U.S. military.

Gang of Eight members were briefed by the Obama administration on events leading up to the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision not to notify lawmakers beforehand.

We called members of Congress immediately after, Rubio said. This was not the kind of mission you can do congressional notification on it was a triggerbased mission. Its just not the kind of mission that you can prenotify because it endangers the mission.

Last month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth briefed lawmakers on U.S. strikes against suspected drugsmuggling boats off the coast of Venezuela.

Some lawmakers called for closeddoor hearings amid concerns that the United States committed war crimes by striking a boat multiple times.

The Trump administration says the operations are intended to prevent illegal narcotics from entering the United States and to reduce overdose deaths.

Some observers have suggested the maritime operations were aimed at regime change in Venezuela, whose leader, Nicols Maduro, is not recognized as legitimate by the U.S. government. U.S. officials contend Maduro stole the last election, while Maduro has long blamed the United States for his countrys problems.

By REGINA GARCIA CANO The Associated press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Nicolás Maduro, who rose from unionized bus driver to Venezuelan president and oversaw his country’s democratic undoing and economic collapse, was captured Saturday during an attack by U.S. forces on his capital.

U.S. President Donald Trump, in an early morning social media post, announced Maduro’s capture. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, later announced that the whereabouts of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, remained unknown. Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, said Maduro and Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York.

Maduro’s fall was the culmination of months of stepped-up U.S. pressure on various fronts.

He had spent the last months of his presidency fueling speculation over the intentions of the U.S. government to attack and invade Venezuela with the goal of ending the self-proclaimed socialist revolution that his late mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chávez, ushered in 1999. Maduro, like Chávez, cast the United States as Venezuela’s biggest threat, railing against Democratic and Republic administrations for any efforts to restore democratic norms.

Maduro’s political career began 40 years ago. In 1986, he traveled to Cuba to receive a year of ideological instruction, his only formal education after high school. Upon his return, he worked as a bus driver for the Caracas subway system, where he quickly became a union leader. Venezuela’s intelligence agencies in the 1990s identified him as a leftist radical with close ties to the Cuban government.

Maduro eventually left his driver job and joined the political movement that Chávez organized after receiving a presidential pardon in 1994 for leading a failed and bloody military coup years earlier. After Chávez took office, the former youth baseball player rose through the ranks of the ruling party, spending his first six years as a lawmaker before becoming president of the National Assembly. He then served six years as foreign minister and a couple months as vice president.

Appointed the political heir to Chávez

Chávez used his last address to the nation before his death in 2013 to anoint Maduro as his successor, asking his supporters to vote for the then-foreign affairs minister should he die. The choice stunned supporters and detractors alike. But Chávez’s enormous electoral capital delivered Maduro a razor-thin victory that year, giving him his first six-year term, though he would never enjoy the devotion that voters professed for Chávez.

Maduro married Flores, his partner of nearly two decades, in July 2013, shortly after he became president. He called her the “first combatant,” instead of first lady, and considered her a crucial adviser.

Maduro’s entire presidency was marked by a complex social, political and economic crisis that pushed millions into poverty, drove more than 7.7 million Venezuelans to migrate and put thousands of real or perceived government opponents in prison, where many were tortured, some at his direction. Maduro complemented the repressive apparatus by purging institutions of anyone who dared dissent.

Venezuela’s crisis took hold during Maduro’s first year in office. The political opposition, including the now-Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, called for street protests in Caracas and other cities. The demonstrations evidenced Maduro’s iron fist as security forces pushed back protests, which ended with 43 deaths and dozens of arrests.

Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela would go on to lose control of the National Assembly for the first time in 16 years in the 2015 election. Maduro moved to neutralize the opposition-controlled legislature by establishing a pro-government Constituent Assembly in 2017, leading to months of protests violently suppressed by security forces and the military.

More than 100 people were killed and thousands were injured in the demonstrations. Hundreds were arrested, causing the International Criminal Court to open an investigation against Maduro and members of his government for crimes against humanity. The investigation was still ongoing in 2025.

In 2018, Maduro survived an assassination attempt when drones rigged with explosives detonated near him as he delivered a speech during a nationally televised military parade.

Bedeviled by economic problems

Maduro was unable to stop the economic free fall. Inflation and severe shortages of food and medicines affected Venezuelans nationwide. Entire families starved and began migrating on foot to neighboring countries. Those who remained lined up for hours to buy rice, beans and other basics. Some fought on the streets over flour.

Ruling party loyalists moved the December 2018 presidential election to May and blocked opposition parties from the ballot. Some opposition politicians were imprisoned; others fled into exile. Maduro ran virtually unopposed and was declared winner, but dozens of countries did not recognize him.

Months after the election, he drew the fury after social media videos showed him feasting on a steak prepared by a celebrity chef at a restaurant in Turkey while millions in his country were going hungry.

Under Maduro’s watch, Venezuela’s economy shrank 71% between 2012 and 2020, while inflation topped 130,000%. Its oil production, the beating heart of the country, dropped to less than 400,000 barrels a day, a figure once unthinkable.

The first Trump administration imposed economic sanctions against Maduro, his allies and state-owned companies to try to force a government change. The measures included freezing all Venezuelan government assets in the U.S. and prohibiting American citizens and international partners from doing business with Venezuelan government entities, including the state-owned oil company.

Out of options, Maduro began implementing a series of economic measures in 2021 that eventually ended Venezuela’s hyperinflation cycle. He paired the economic changes with concessions to the U.S.-backed political opposition with which it restarted negotiations for what many had hoped would be a free and democratic presidential election in 2024.

Maduro used the negotiations to gain concessions from the U.S. government, including the pardon and prison release of one of his closest allies and the sanctions license that allowed oil giant Chevron to restart pumping and exporting Venezuelan oil. The license became his government’s financial lifeline.

Losing support in many places

Negotiations led by Norwegian diplomats did not solve key political differences between the ruling party and the opposition.

In 2023, the government banned Machado, Maduro’s strongest opponent, from running for office. In early 2024, it intensified its repressive efforts, detaining opposition leaders and human rights defenders. The government also forced key members of Machado’s campaign to seek asylum at a diplomatic compound in Caracas, where they remained for more than a year to avoid arrest.

Hours after polls closed in the 2024 election, the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner. But unlike previous elections, it did not provide detailed vote counts. The opposition, however, collected and published tally sheets from more than 80% of electronic voting machines used in the election. The records showed Edmundo González defeated Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

Protests erupted. Some demonstrators toppled statues of Chávez. The government again responded with full force and detained more than 2,000 people World leaders rejected the official results, but the National Assembly sworn in Maduro for a third term in January 2025.

Trump’s return to the White House that same month proved to be a sobering moment for Maduro. Trump quickly pushed Maduro to accept regular deportation flights for the first time in years. By the summer, Trump had built up a military force in the Caribbean that put Venezuela’s government on high alert and started taking steps to address what it called narco-terrorism.

For Maduro, that was the beginning of the end.

The post U.S. hit Venezuela with ‘large-scale strike,’ captured Nicolás Maduro appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

By AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Saturday’s military operation that led to the ouster of Nicolás Maduro a major success as he offered a vague plan for his administration “to run” Venezuela until a transition of power can take place.

While there are no visible signs of a U.S. presence on the ground in Caracas, Trump was demonstrating chutzpah that’s become the trademark of his foreign policy approach. It’s one marked by a grand confidence that his will on the international stage is an immovable force.

“This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history,” Trump declared at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The president strode into office with a promise to turn the page on America’s decades of foreign entanglements. But on Saturday, he committed the U.S. to help Venezuela usher in a period of “peace” and “justice” after decades of rule by strongmen.

The president’s pledge to a Venezuela project comes as he finds himself struggling to bring about a permanent peace between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and find an endgame to Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine.

But the path ahead is treacherous. The White House will need to grapple with any power vacuum caused by Maduro’s ouster and inevitable complications of trying to maintain stability in a country that’s already endured years of hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages and brain drain despite its vast oil wealth.

It also remains to be seen what lessons U.S. adversaries may take from Trump’s decision to demonstrate American might in its sphere of influence in the aftermath of Trump’s play in Caracas. China’s Xi Jinping has vowed to annex the self-ruled island of Taiwan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin has designs on neighbor Ukraine and diminishing NATO’s eastern flank.

Yet Trump was unflinching in his confidence that the bad actors of the old government will be pushed aside as he helps make Venezuela “great again.” He also sought to reassure American taxpayers that they won’t be on the hook for his plan to help out Caracas.

“The money coming out of the ground is very substantial,” Trump said. “We’re going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend.”

Trump hasn’t shied away from flexing U.S. military might even as he has vowed to keep America out of war. He’s now twice used U.S. forces to carry out risky operations against American adversaries. In June, he directed U.S. strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites.

Saturday’s action stirred fresh anxiety in capitals around the world that have sought to adjust to a new normal in Trump 2.0, where the idea of the U.S. trying to find global consensus on issues of war and peace is now passe.

What’s next for Venezuela?

European allies had expressed concern as Trump built up a massive presence of troops in the Caribbean in recent months and carried out dozens of lethal strikes on suspected drug smugglers — many that the administration claimed were effectively an arm of the Maduro government.

Maduro was hardly viewed as a choir boy by the international community. His 2018 and 2024 elections were seen as riddled with irregularities and viewed as illegitimate.

But many U.S. allies greeted news of Maduro’s capture with a measure of trepidation.

European Commission President António Costa said he had “great concern” about the situation in Venezuela following the U.S. operation.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said “the military operation that led to the capture of Maduro infringes the principle of the non-use of force that underpins international law.”

The criticism from some Democrats over Trump’s military action to oust Maduro was immediate.

“This war is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year.” Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona wrote on X. “There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.”

Russia’s foreign ministry condemned what it called a U.S. “act of armed aggression” against Venezuela in a statement posted on its Telegram channel Saturday. The ouster of Maduro, who was backed by the Russians, comes as Trump is urging Putin to end his war on Ukraine.

“Venezuela must be guaranteed the right to determine its own destiny without any destructive, let alone military, outside intervention,” the statement said.

Similarly, China’s foreign ministry in a statement condemned the U.S. operation, saying it violates international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty.

Capture follows months of pressure

The operation was the culmination of a push inside the administration led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other like-minded foes of Maduro who have been urging Trump to take action against the Venezuelan leader for years.

In south Florida — the epicenter of the Venezuelan diaspora opposition to Maduro that has influenced Rubio’s thinking — Saturday’s operation was cheered as an era-changing moment for democracy.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican, said he had spoken to Rubio and thanked Trump for having “changed the course of history in our hemisphere. Our country & the world are safer for it,” he wrote on X, comparing Maduro’s ouster to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Trump: Venezuela has no chance without his intervention

Maduro had sought a pathway to exit from power while saving face.

Venezuelan government officials had floated a plan in which Maduro would eventually leave office, The Associated Press reported in October.

The proposal called for Maduro to step down in three years and hand over to his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who would complete Maduro’s six-year term that ends in January 2031. Rodriguez would not run for reelection under the plan.

But the White House had rejected the proposal because the administration questioned the legitimacy of Maduro’s rule and accused him of overseeing a narco-terrorist state.

Maduro earlier this week said Venezuela was open to negotiating an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking and work with Washington on promoting U.S. further investment in the Venezuelan oil industry. Trump said Maduro was recently offered chances to surrender but declined.

Rubio held a long phone conversation on Saturday with Rodriguez, who was sworn into office following Maduro’s capture, Trump said.

“If we just left, it has zero chance of ever coming back. We’ll run it properly. We’ll run it professionally,” Trump said. “We’ll have the greatest oil companies in the world going in, invest billions and billions of dollars. … And the biggest beneficiary are going to be the people of Venezuela.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Maduro “F’d around and found out.” He added adversaries of the U.S. should “remain on notice” that “America can project our will anywhere, anytime.”

“Welcome to 2026,” Hegseth said. “Under President Trump, America is back.”

Venezuela’s opposition says the rightful president is the exiled politician Edmundo González, an ally of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

Trump said he wasn’t ready to commit to a certain leader but pledged his administration has to remain “very involved” in Venezuela.

“We can’t take a chance of letting somebody else run it — just take over where (Maduro) left,” Trump said.

AP writers Darlene Superville in Palm Springs, Fla., Matthew Lee in Washington, Kanis Leung in Hong Kong, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, and Elise Morton in London contributed reporting.

A ride-share driver and his passenger were injured in a shooting on the Lodge freeway on Saturday morning, police say.

Michigan State Police said the shooting happened around 9 a.m. on the Lodge northbound near Meyers in Detroit.

According to police, the 30-year-old ride-share driver from Hamtramck entered the Lodge northbound from Livernois Avenue. While on the Lodge, the vehicle was reportedly shot at multiple times by an unknown suspect. Police say the driver and his 17-year-old passenger from Detroit were hit, and the driver stopped on Meyers Road.

Both victims were transported to a local hospital and are currently in critical condition, police say.

Troopers searched the freeway for evidence, and the freeway reopened on Saturday afternoon.

Troopers are currently working to determine the motive for this shooting, said F/Lt. Mike Shaw in a statement. They are using technology along the victims' route to attempt to identify a suspect vehicle."

If you have any information on this shooting, you're asked to call 855.MICH.TIP.

WXYZ.com

For decades, Avenida Revolución in Tijuana was a bustling tourist zone, attracting U.S. visitors with its colorful souvenir shops, restaurants and nightlife.

But at some point, popular interest in the historic district faded.

State and city officials have been trying to revitalize the area for some time to attract more tourists, with hopes of making it a place locals want to hang out, too.

The latest move involves closing off a few blocks to vehicles to make way for a pedestrian promenade. Visitors can now wander from Fourth to Seventh streets along the 136-year-old avenue.

When unveiling the $1.3 million project in October, Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila pledged to restore more public spaces to promote cultural, musical and recreational activities.

“This is what Tijuana deserves,” she said in a video posted on social media. “These spaces represent Tijuana.”

So far, it seems to be working.

Isabel Hernández and her fiancé, Ramón Félix, are street vendors who craft bracelets and necklaces on a bench in the area to sell later in the day. One recent Saturday morning, the couple was particularly busy, preparing for two events taking place on different blocks of the same stretch of the avenue within a few hours — a food festival followed by a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

The couple said many visitors have come to check out the revamped spot, surrounded by hotels, coffee shops, pharmacies and restaurants.

Officials said people can expect more artistic activities in the plaza, such as music and theatrical performances.

“They come with their children, play with them for a while, have some ice cream, and stay for a bit,” Félix noted.

Tijuana’s landmark 

Avenida Revolución is at the center of much of the city’s history. In 1889, it became the first street in the city to be paved and provided with utilities, boosting its draw as a commercial and tourist hub. Throughout its history, the avenue has had five names, adopting its current one in 1932.

The concept of creating a pedestrian square was inspired by other cities, said José Carlos Robles, president of the Association of Merchants and Tourism Entrepreneurs of Avenida Revolución. He cited several examples, including the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, which has experimented with a pedestrian promenade.

Robles said that Tijuana was missing that experience in its downtown area. “When you visit any city, you always want to go downtown and see the historic sites,” he said.

Robles said that some businesses reported increased sales after the opening of the pedestrian plaza and that the project has attracted others to open their businesses on the popular avenue, which is better known by locals as “La Revu.”

The project has faced some opposition, as some businesses were not on board with the idea. A vendor from a souvenir shop within the pedestrian plaza said the change didn’t help the business because it relies more on international tourists who come by bus or car than on locals who walk through the area.

U.S. tourists, including those traveling for medical reasons, still frequently visit Avenida Revolución. But there was a time when it was far more popular, recalled José Gabriel Rivera, head of the Baja California Historical Archive.

In the Prohibition era, when alcohol was banned in the U.S., people flocked to Tijuana to drink and gamble. It was around this time that the world-famous Caesar salad was created in the area.

In the 1980s and ’90s, Avenida Revolución was a mecca for San Diegans looking to party. Some took advantage of the fact that the legal drinking age in Mexico is 18 instead of 21.

However, that all changed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when crossing the U.S.-Mexico border became a more rigorous endeavor. Reports of cartel-related violence in the city around that time also discouraged many visitors.

This led to a binational tourism crisis, Rivera said, prompting a shift in focus to attract local tourism.

Rivera welcomed the ongoing efforts to improve the ever-changing avenue and its surroundings, but noted that it could be more attractive to locals.

“The Avenida Revolución is a landmark and icon in Tijuana’s history,” he said. “It’s important to develop different types of policies to revitalize it.”

On a recent Saturday, locals Óscar Díaz and his mother, Sanjuana Nachez, ran an errand a few blocks away and took the opportunity to visit the food festival and explore the new pedestrian plaza.

Díaz reminisced about the late ’80s, when he used to party in the area. He said that back then, it was common to see many visitors from the United States. “Many people from San Diego came,” his mother echoed. But nowadays, not as many, they said.

“It was about time they renovated the Revolución,” he said. “Hopefully, it will attract tourism.”

Local life

For the past three years, Mariana Sánchez — known on social media as Nana en Tijuana — has been giving walking tours of her hometown. Her bilingual tours begin on Avenida Revolución. As she points out, to understand the city, you have to go back to where it all began.

Throughout her time working in the industry, she has noticed the interests of tourists changing. She said that many want to “experience life as we live it.”

“They want to know where we go, what we eat and how we get around,” she said. “Many people are searching for that feeling of local life.”

That still often includes the souvenir shops and famous salad at Caesar’s Restaurant, which long ago relocated onto Avenida Revolución. But tourists are also venturing farther from downtown, trying the numerous taquerías scattered throughout the city or attending a Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles soccer game or a Toros baseball game, Sánchez said.

Caesar’s, which many agree is one of the most touristy places on the avenue, is situated within the new pedestrian plaza. Visitors can no longer valet park in front of the restaurant. Instead, they must look for public parking nearby.

While Sánchez welcomes the idea, she said there is still work to be done. For instance, although the avenue is closed to vehicles, the side streets are not, which may confuse pedestrians and drivers.

“It’s an interesting time to analyze and rethink tourism strategies,” she said. “The pedestrian plaza has presented new opportunities for some vendors, as well as some challenges that need to be considered.”

By JILL LAWLESS and REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a lightning military strike, the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and spirited them out of the country to face justice in the United States.

Now President Donald Trump says the U.S. is “going to run” Venezuela until a transition of power can take place, but it’s not clear what that will mean on the ground in the South American country.

The overnight operation left Venezuela reeling, with its leadership uncertain and details of casualties and the impact on its military still to emerge. Much is still unknown about how the U.S. ouster of Maduro will ricochet across the country and the region.

Here’s what we know — and what we don’t.

Rising US pressure, then an overnight attack

Explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, early Saturday. At least seven blasts were heard in an attack that lasted less than 30 minutes. The targets appeared to include military infrastructure.

Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández said Maduro and Flores were captured at their home within the Ft. Tiuna military installation outside Caracas.

Venezuelan officials said people had been killed, but the scale of casualties was unclear.

The attack followed months of escalating pressure by the Trump administration, which has built up naval forces in the waters off South America and since early September has carried out deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Late last month, the CIA carried out a drone strike at a docking area alleged to have been used by drug cartels.

Trump says the US will run Venezuela, but how is unclear

Trump said during a news conference Saturday the U.S. would run the country and gestured to officials arrayed behind him, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and said they’d be the ones doing it “for a period of time.”

Trump claimed the American presence was already in place, although across Venezuela’s capital there were no signs that the U.S. had taken control of the government or military forces.

Trump claimed that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez had been sworn in as president shortly before he spoke to reporters and added she had spoken with Rubio.

“She is essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again. Very simple,” Trump said.

But during a televised address after Trump’s news conference, Rodriquez made no mention of talking to Rubio, of taking over the presidency or of cooperating with the U.S. State television has not shown a swearing-in ceremony and during her address, a ticker at the bottom of the screen identified her as the vice president.

Instead, she demanded the U.S. free Maduro, called him the country’s rightful leader and said what was happening to Venezuela “is an atrocity that violates international law.”

Rodriquez left open the door for dialogue with the U.S., while seeking to calm ruling party supporters.

“Here, we have a government with clarity, and I repeat and repeat again … we are willing to have respectful relations,” she said, referring to the Trump administration. “It is the only thing we will accept for a type of relationship after having attacked (Venezuela).”

Armed individuals and uniformed members of a civilian militia took to the streets of a Caracas neighborhood long considered a stronghold of the ruling party. But in other areas of the city, the streets remained empty hours after the attack. Parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.

Trump offered no details on what U.S. leadership in Venezuela would mean or specify whether it would involve more military involvement.

The State Department did not immediately respond to questions about how the U.S. would run Venezuela, what authority it would use to administer it or whether it would involve any American personnel — either civilian or military — on the ground in Caracas or other areas of Venezuela.

The future of Venezuela’s oil infrastructure

Trump mentioned the country’s oil infrastructure repeatedly during the news conference. He suggested there would be a substantial U.S. role in Venezuela’s oil industry, saying that U.S. oil companies would go in and fix the broken infrastructure.

And Trump said the U.S. would use revenues from oil sales to pay for running the country.

“We’re going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend,” he said.

The US charges against Maduro

According to an indictment made public Saturday, Maduro is charged alongside his wife, his son and three others. Maduro is indicted on four counts: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Authorities allege powerful and violent drug trafficking organizations, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua gang, worked directly with the Venezuelan government and then sent profits to high-ranking officials who helped and protected them in exchange.

It was not immediately clear when Maduro and his wife would make their first court appearance in New York or where they would be detained once in the U.S.

How the US operation played out

Trump gave some details of the operation during a Saturday morning interview on “Fox and Friends,” and he and Caine went into more depth during the news conference.

Trump said a few U.S. members of the operation were injured but he believed no one was killed.

He said Maduro was “highly guarded” in a presidential palace akin to a “fortress” and he tried to get to a safe room but wasn’t able to get there in time.

Trump said U.S. forces practiced the operation ahead of time on a replica building, and the U.S. turned off “almost all of the lights in Caracas,” although he didn’t detail how they accomplished that.

Caine said the mission had been “meticulously planned” for months, relying on work by the U.S. intelligence community to find Maduro and detail how he moved, lived, ate and what he wore.

The mission involved more than 150 aircraft launched across the Western Hemisphere, Caine said. Helicopters came under fire as they approached “the target area,” he said, and responded with “overwhelming force.”

Questions over legality

The U.S. does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, and the legal implications of the strike under U.S. law were not immediately clear.

The Trump administration maintains that Maduro is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela and claims he has effectively turned Venezuela into a criminal enterprise at the service of drug traffickers and terrorist groups.

Mike Lee, a U.S. senator from Utah, said on X that the action “likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack.”

But some Democrats were more critical.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, said in a statement, “President Trump’s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to arrest Maduro — however terrible he is — is a sickening return to a day when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere.”

How opposition leader Machado figures in Trump’s plans

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado had intended to run against Maduro in the 2024 presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. She went into hiding and wasn’t seen for nearly a year.

Trump said Saturday that he hadn’t been in touch with Machado and said it would be “very tough” for her to lead Venezuela.

“She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect,” Trump said.

Lawless reported from London. Associated Press Writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this story.

Charlie Polinger achieves a lot with relatively little with his feature directorial debut, “The Plague.”

Getting a wide release this week, this slice of psychological horror is quite effective despite its small scale and a cast consisting largely of little-known young actors.

A cross between “Lord of the Flies” and … some other movie set at a youth water polo camp, “The Plague” explores, as Polinger puts it in his directorial statement, “the clumsy liminal space between childhood and adolescence, when the id grows too fast and too strong for the conscience to keep up.”

Also the film’s writer, Polinger found inspiration for the story when he unearthed old journals from when he was 12. He read his tales of a youth sports camp, where boys told tall tales of a mysterious “plague” that had infected one unfortunate kid — it was the reason for his acne-covered face and was turning his brain to “mush.”

That is the situation 12-year-old Ben (Everett Blunck) encounters when he joins the second session of a water polo camp after moving to the area from another city in summer 2003. A bunch of the boys — led by the charismatic Jake (Kayo Martin) — have ostracized another with a skin issue, Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), which they make very clear as they accept Ben into their fold.

“Those aren’t regular pimples,” Jake tells Ben as they sit on the bottom part of a bunk bed, several feet from Eli. “Those are plague pimples. That’s a plague face.”

Jake proceeds to fill Ben’s head with more disturbing details, including the fate of the unfortunate boy who supposedly gave the plague to Eli. (Spoiler alert: He’s said to be spending his time in a mental institution playing “Jenga.”)

You can tell from Ben’s face that he doesn’t believe any of this to be true — mostly, kinda, probably — but he does as instructed, scrubbing his skin quickly after any physical contact with the outcast. He’s just trying to fit in, especially after Jake gives him a hard time about having trouble pronouncing “t” sounds, earning him the cruel nickname “Soppy” as a result. We’ve all been there — if roughly, not precisely.

That’s why “The Plague” feels so authentic for its first long stretch: It’s relatable in a way you may not enjoy thinking about, even if you were more follower than leader, more Ben than Jake, in your youth.

As the film progresses, however, Polinger skillfully blurs the line between childhood nonsense and reality in a really potent and, at times, downright chilling way, as Ben takes the inevitable turn away from Jake and toward Eli — despite the latter’s odd social behavior. (To be clear, Eli’s idiosyncrasies feel authentic for an outcast kid … at least for the most part.)

With the help of collaborators who include director of photography Steven Breckon, production designer Chad Keith and sound designer Damian Volpe, Polinger creates an aesthetic that evolves from lovely (the opening underwater shots) to unsettling (well, you’ll see).

Plenty of heavy lifting is also done by the aforementioned actors, with Blunck (“Griffin in Summer”) compelling as a pre-teen everyman — not exactly cool but able to vaguely fake it — and newcomer Rasmussen, who throws himself into the role of a boy trying to make the best of being separated from the group at camp.

The standout, though, is Martin, who, as the ringleader, straddles the line between angel and devil, aided by an often-present smile that can be read either way. (Also into skating and boxing, the youth has about a million Instagram followers.)

Joel Edgerton (“Boy Erased,” “Train Dreams”) portrays the only meaningful adult role, that of the boys’ coach, Daddy Wags, and he turns in solid work, both when his character lays into Jake for his behavior and later tries to comfort Ben.

Know that a viewer isn’t likely to find much comfort in “The Plague.” It isn’t a fun experience, the film dipping its toes into such upsetting topics as self-mutilation, but it is impactful.

Without hinting at the nature of the conclusion, Polinger sticks the landing, leaving the viewer wanting more — not of “The Plague” but of him.

‘The Plague’

Where: Theaters.

When: Jan. 2.

Rated: R for language, sexual material, self-harm/bloody images, and some drug and alcohol use – all involving children.

Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes.

Stars (of four): 3.

President Donald Trump had long threatened that he could order military strikes on targets on Venezuelan territory after months of attacks on boats accused of carrying drugs from the South American country. President Nicols Maduro of Venezuela said the U.S. military operations were a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.

On Saturday, the U.S. conducted a large-scale strike against Venezuela and said that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured and flown out of the country. Trump announced the operation on social media hours after the attack. The Venezuelan government called it an imperialist attack and urged citizens to take to the streets.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York.

RELATED STORY | Full wrath of American justice: US announces capture of Venezuela's Maduro

Before the escalation, there had been 35 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since early September that killed at least 115 people, according to announcements from the Republican administration.

The U.S. had sent a fleet of warships to the region, the largest buildup of forces in generations.

The White House said Washington was in armed conflict with drug cartels to halt the flow of narcotics into the United States, while U.S. officials alleged that Maduro supported the international drug trade.

Here is a timeline of the U.S. military actions and related developments:

Jan. 20, 2025

Trump signs an executive order that paved the way for criminal organizations and drug cartels to be named foreign terrorist organizations. They included Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang.

U.S. intelligence agencies have disputed Trumps central claim that Maduros administration was working with Tren de Aragua and orchestrating drug trafficking and illegal immigration into the U.S.

Feb. 20

The Trump administration formally designated eight Latin American crime organizations as foreign terrorist organizations.

The label is normally reserved for groups such as a-Qaida or the Islamic State that use violence for political ends, and not for profit-focused crime rings.

Aug. 19

The U.S. military deployed three guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela.

The naval force in the Caribbean grew within weeks to include three amphibious assault ships and other vessels, carrying about 6,000 sailors and Marines and a variety of aircraft.

The U.S. sent F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico in September, while a Navy submarine carrying cruise missiles operated off South America.

Sept. 2

The U.S. carried out its first strike against what Trump said was a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela and was operated by Tren de Aragua.

Trump said all 11 people on the boat were killed. He posted a short video clip of a small vessel appearing to explode in flames.

Sept. 10

In a letter to the White House, Democratic senators said the administration had provided no legitimate legal justification for the strike.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the U.S. military was not empowered to hunt down suspected criminals and kill them without trial.

Sept. 15

The U.S. military carried out its second strike against an alleged drug boat, killing three people.

Asked what proof the U.S. had that the vessel was carrying drugs, Trump told reporters that big bags of cocaine and fentanyl were spattered all over the ocean. Images of what Trump described were not released by the military or the White House.

Sept. 19

Trump said the U.S. military carried out its third fatal strike against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel. Several senators and human rights groups continued to question the legality of the strikes, describing them as a potential overreach of executive authority.

Oct. 2

Trump declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and said the U.S. was now in an armed conflict with them, according to an administration memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The memo appeared to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers and drew criticism from some lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Oct. 3

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he ordered a fourth strike on a small boat he accused of carrying drugs.

Oct. 8

Senate Republicans voted down legislation that would have required the president to seek authorization from Congress before further military strikes.

Oct. 14

Trump announced the fifth strike against a small boat accused of carrying drugs, saying it killed six people.

Oct. 15

Trump confirmed he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and said he was weighing carrying out land operations in the country.

He declined to say whether the CIA has authority to take action against Maduro.

Oct. 16

The Navy admiral who oversaw military operations in the region said he will retire in December.

Adm. Alvin Holsey became leader of U.S. Southern Command only the previous November, overseeing an area that encompasses the Caribbean and waters off South America. Such postings typically last three years to four years.

Oct. 16

Trump said the U.S. struck a sixth suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, killing two people and leaving two survivors who were on the semisubmersible craft.

The president later said the survivors would be sent to Ecuador and Colombia, their home countries, for detention and prosecution. Repatriation avoided questions about what their legal status would have been in the U.S. justice system.

Oct. 17

The U.S. military attacked a seventh vessel that Hegseth said was carrying substantial amounts of narcotics and associated with a Colombian rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN. Three people are killed.

Oct. 20

Washington Rep. Adam Smith, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, called for a hearing on the boat strikes.

Never before in my over 20 years on the committee can I recall seeing a combatant commander leave their post this early and amid such turmoil," Smith said in a statement of Holsey's impending departure. I have also never seen such a staggering lack of transparency on behalf of an Administration and the Department to meaningfully inform Congress on the use of lethal military force.

Oct. 21

Hegseth said the U.S. military launched its eighth strike against an alleged drug-carrying vessel, killing two people in the eastern Pacific.

The attack was an expansion of the militarys targeting area to the waters off South America where much of the cocaine from the worlds largest producers is smuggled.

Oct. 22

Hegseth announced the ninth strike, another in the eastern Pacific, saying three men are killed.

Oct. 24

Hegseth ordered the U.S. military's most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the region in a significant escalation of military firepower.

Oct. 24

Hegseth said the military conducted the 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, leaving six people dead.

Oct. 27

Hegseth said three more strikes were carried out in the eastern Pacific, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor.

Hegseth said Mexican authorities assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue of the sole survivor, who was presumed dead after Mexico suspended its search.

Oct. 29

Hegseth said the U.S. military carried out another strike on a boat he said was carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific, killing all four people aboard in the 14th attack.

Oct. 29

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the administration briefed Republicans, but not Democrats, on the boat strikes.

The Senate at the time was facing a potential vote on a war powers resolution that would have prohibited strikes in or near Venezuela without congressional approval.

Oct. 31

U.N. human rights chief Volker Trk called for an investigation into the strikes, in what appeared to be the first such condemnation of its kind from a U.N. organization.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Trks office, relayed his message at a briefing: "The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats.

Nov. 1

Hegseth announced the 15th known strike, saying three people were killed.

Nov. 4

In the 16th known strike, Hegseth posted on social media that two people were killed aboard a vessel in the eastern Pacific.

Nov. 6

Hegseth announced the 17th known strike, which killed three people.

Senate Republicans voted to reject legislation that would have limited Trump's ability to order an attack on Venezuelan soil without congressional authorization. Lawmakers from both parties had demanded more information on the strikes, but Republicans appeared more willing to give Trump leeway to continue his buildup of naval forces.

Nov. 9

The U.S. military struck two vessels in the eastern Pacific, killing six people, according to an announcement from Hegseth the following day.

Nov. 10

The 20th known strike on a boat accused of transporting drugs killed four people in the Caribbean, according to a social media post from the U.S. military's Southern Command.

Nov. 11

Venezuelas government launched what it said was a massive mobilization of troops and volunteers for two days of exercises prompted by the U.S. military buildup.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lpez asserted that Venezuelas military was stronger than ever in its unity, morale and equipment.

Nov. 15

Three people were killed after the U.S. military conducted its 21st strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific, according to a post from Southern Command a day later.

Nov. 16

The Ford arrived in the Caribbean, a major moment in the Trump administration's show of force.

The aircraft carrier's arrival brought the total number of troops in the region to around 12,000 on nearly a dozen Navy ships in what Hegseth said was Operation Southern Spear.

Nov. 16

Trump said the U.S. may be having some discussions with Maduro and Venezuela would like to talk, without offering details.

Ill talk to anybody, Trump said. Well see what happens.

Dec. 4

Adm. Frank Mitch Bradley appeared for closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers began investigating the strikes. The investigation started after reports that Bradley ordered a follow-on attack that killed the survivors of the first strike on Sept. 2 to comply with Hegseths demands.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., later told reporters that Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all."

Democrats said they found the video of the entire attack disturbing.

Smith said the survivors were basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water until the missiles come and kill them.

Dec. 4

Four people were killed in the 22nd strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific, according to a post from Southern Command.

Dec. 10

The U.S. seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela after the ship left that country with about 2 million barrels of heavy crude.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the tanker was involved in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. Venezuela's government said the seizure was "a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.

Dec. 15

The U.S. military struck three alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing eight people, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Southern Command announced.

Dec. 16

Hegseth said the Pentagon will not publicly release unedited video of the Sept. 2 strike that killed two survivors, even as questions mounted in Congress about the attack and the overall campaign near Venezuela.

Dec. 16

Trump said he was ordering a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela, a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American countrys oil-dependent economy.

Trump alleged that Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking, terrorism and other crimes. He pledged to continue the military buildup until Venezuela returned to the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was unclear why Trump felt the U.S. had a claim.

Dec. 17

The U.S. military said it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people.

House Republicans rejected a pair of Democratic-backed resolutions that would have put a check on Trumps power to use military force against drug cartels and Venezuela. They were the first votes in the House after Senate Republicans previously voted down similar war powers resolutions.

Dec. 18

The U.S. military said it conducted two more strikes against boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific, killing five people.

Dec. 20

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the U.S. Coast Guard, with help from the Defense Department, stopped a second oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

Dec. 22

Trump confirmed that the U.S. Coast Guard was chasing another oil tanker that the administration described as part of the dark fleet.

The U.S. military said it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people.

Dec. 29

Trump told reporters that the U.S. struck a facility where boats accused of carrying drugs load up. He declined to say whether the U.S. military or the CIA carried out the strike on the dock or where it occurred. He did not confirm it happened in Venezuela.

The U.S. military said it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people.

Dec. 30

The CIA was behind the drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with details of the classified operation who requested anonymity to discuss it.

It was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September. Venezuelan officials have not acknowledged the strike.

Dec. 30

The U.S. military struck three more boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs, killing three people in the first boat while people from the other two boats jumped overboard and may have survived, Southern Command announced the following day.

Dec. 31

The U.S. imposed sanctions on four companies operating in Venezuelas oil sector and designated four additional oil tankers as blocked property and part of the larger shadow fleet that was evading U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.

Dec. 31

The U.S. military said it attacked two more boats, killing five people who were allegedly smuggling drugs along known trafficking routes.

Jan. 1, 2026

Maduro, in an interview on state television that aired on New Year's Day, said Venezuela was open to negotiating an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking. He declined to comment on the CIA-led strike and reiterated that the U.S. wanted to force a government change in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves.

Jan. 3

The U.S. conducted a large-scale strike across Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, captured Maduro and Flores and flew them out of the country. Maduro and Flores would face charges after an indictment in New York, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Maduro was indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, but it was not previously known that Flores had been.

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The family of a couple found fatally shot inside their Columbus home earlier this week is speaking out about their loss.

Spencer Tepe, 37, and Monique Tepe, 39, were found dead Tuesday morning when police did a welfare check at their home.

According to WBNS-TV in Columbus, Spencer's coworkers at a dental clinic in Athens called 911 after he failed to show up for work and neither he nor his family could be reached.

Investigators said no weapons were found at the home and there was no sign of forced entry. Police do not believe the shooting was a murder-suicide at this time.

"Our family is devastated by the tragic and senseless loss of Spencer and Monique. They were extraordinary people whose lives were filled with love, joy, and deep connection to others," the couple's family said in a statement.

The family described Spencer as a "devoted and proud father" who was a huge Bengals and Ohio State fan. After graduating from OSU's College of Dentistry, he was a member of the American Dental Association.

Monique, the family said, was a loving mom "whose warmth defined her."

"Her kindness made people feel instantly at home," the statement says.

Their two small children were found inside the home. Both were unharmed, according to the incident report.

"We are heartbroken beyond words. While no outcome can ever undo this loss, our family is committed to seeing this tragedy fully and fairly brought to justice, and to honoring Spencer and Monique by protecting the future of the children they loved so deeply," the statement says.

The post NPR special event coverage: Large-scale strike against Venezuela appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

The United States conducted a large-scale strike early Saturday in Venezuela and captured its president, Nicols Maduro, flying him and his wife out of the country, President Donald Trump said. Videos showed multiple explosions and low-flying aircraft in Caracas, the capital.

Hours after the operation, President Trump said that the U.S. would "run the country" until there is a proper transition.

"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition, and it has to be judicious because that's what we're all about," President Trump said.

Additionally, President Trump said U.S. oil companies will have a presence in Venezuela.

PREVIOUS REPORTING: WHAT'S BEHIND THE TENSION

"We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country," he said.

The Associated Press reported that Venezuelan security forces appeared to still have control of key government sites.

President Trump released a photo of Maduro following his arrest.

After the attack, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that Maduro would be tried in the United States. He had previously been indicted in 2020 for drug-related charges. At the time, the U.S. had offered up to a $15 million reward for Maduro's arrest; the U.S. had since increased the amount to $50 million.

Nicols Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York, Bondi said. Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.

RELATED STORY | Timeline: From boat strikes to Caracas raid how U.S. forces captured Maduro

Bondi added: They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. On behalf of the entire U.S. Department of Justice, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American people, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers.

President Trump said Saturday that Maduro and Flores were on the U.S. warship Iwo Jima.

"They'll be heading in to New York. The helicopters took them out, and they went by helicopter, a nice flight. I'm sure they loved it," Trump told Fox News. "But they've killed a lot of people, remember that. They killed a lot of people, even people in their own country. Today killed a lot of people to maintain the power."

Trump had suggested for weeks that the United States could conduct an attack in Venezuela after targeting boats accused of smuggling drugs.

Members of Congress were not consulted before Saturdays pre-dawn attack.

Sen. Mike Lee said he spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio following the attacks, stating that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant. This action likely falls within the presidents inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack."

Rubio stated that members of Congress were not notified due to concerns of possible leaks, mystifying Democrats.

Venezuelas reaction

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez expressed outrage over the strike and called on Trump to provide proof of life for Maduro.

RELATED STORY | Democrats slam Trump for not notifying Congress before Maduro raid

The Venezuelan people are outraged, Rodriguez said. The birthplace of our liberator, the capital city of Caracas, was attacked. The capital city that saw the birth of the liberator of our great homeland, that saw the birth of the greatest man of our continent, has been violated, attacked and assaulted. In light of this brutal situation and this brutal attack, we do not know the whereabouts of President Nicols Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores.

International reaction

While some of America's foes such as Iran and Russia stood opposed to the raid, other groups offered mixed reactions.

UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres expressed concern over the raid.

"Independently of the situation in Venezuela, these developments constitute a dangerous precedent. The Secretary-General continues to emphasize the importance of full respect - by all - of international law, including the UN Charter. Hes deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected," a UN statement read.

The European Union was more deferential in its response.

"I am following the situation in Venezuela with great concern. The European Union calls for de-escalation and a resolution in full respect of international law and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. The European Union will continue to support a peaceful, democratic, and inclusive solution in Venezuela," said Antnio Costa, European Union Council president.

President Trump watches raid live

As the raid was ongoing, President Trump said that he watched the raid unfold on video feeds.

"We watched it from a room, we had a room, and we watched it, and we watched every aspect of it. We were surrounded by lots of people including generals, and they knew everything that was happening, and it was very complex. Extremely complex. The whole maneuver, the landings, the number of aircraft which were massive number. The number of helicopters, the different type of helicopters, different type of fighter jets. We had a fighter jet for every possible situation," Trump told Fox News.

Trump suggested that the raid was scheduled to occur earlier in the week, but was held off due to weather.