In the pre-dawn hours of 3 January, a tightly choreographed U.S. military operation swept into Venezuela, seizing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a raid that U.S. officials have framed as a targeted law-enforcement action. The mission — described by U.S. sources by the name translated as "Resolute Determination" — reportedly lasted under two hours and involved special operations helicopters, direct-action units, and a wider maritime and air presence that had been assembled in the region for months.
Chinese military analysts who examined the operation in detail characterise it as a textbook example of multi-domain, intelligence-driven warfare. They say the assault combined precise human intelligence, electronic warfare to blind local defences, covert insertion by helicopter, and follow-on precision strikes aimed at neutralising potential counterattacks. The speed of the raid and the reported lack of effective local resistance point to a pre-planned effort that capitalised on intelligence about presidential movements and defensive gaps.
Publicly disclosed timelines and expert reconstructions place the helicopter insertion around 02:01 local time, with withdrawal completed by 02:29 — roughly twenty-eight minutes on the ground. Analysts point to the employment of special operations forces for the capture, supported by a signal of overwhelming force: carriers, amphibious assault ships and submarines had long been concentrated in the Caribbean, providing both deterrence and the capacity for rapid escalation if needed.
Reports emerging after the operation say that President Maduro and his wife sustained injuries during their capture and were subsequently transported out of the country; U.S. officials notified Congress of those developments. Chinese commentators emphasise that the mission's success hinged not on brute force alone but on detailed rehearsal, electronic suppression of communications and power, and surgical targeting of defensive nodes — including air bases and a mountain communications relay.
Beyond the tactical success, the operation embodies a strategic logic: arrest and removal of a head of state can be a decisive instrument in reshaping a country's political order. Chinese analysts warn that the deeper U.S. intent goes beyond criminal prosecution; they argue the raid is intended to produce a political realignment in Caracas favorable to U.S. economic and geopolitical interests, particularly access to Venezuelan energy and mineral resources.
The operation also exposes risks and dilemmas. A cross-border capture of a sitting leader stretches long-standing norms against extraterritorial use of force and raises the prospect of regional fallout. Cuba — whose personnel were reported among Maduro's security detail — saw casualties in the assault according to some accounts, complicating Havana's response. Moscow and Beijing, long-standing backers of Caracas, are now confronted with a precedent that could recalibrate their calculations about presence and influence in Latin America.
For the United States, the raid carries both rewards and liabilities. It demonstrates unrivalled capability to project precision power and to execute deniable, low-footprint operations. But it also obliges Washington to manage the aftermath: reconstruction of Venezuelan governance, preventing insurgent or foreign proxies from exploiting instability, and managing diplomatic blowback across the hemisphere.
Whatever the legal and moral arguments offered in Washington, the episode signals a new willingness to use expeditionary special operations for regime removal in the Western Hemisphere. The tactical textbook of intelligence fusion, electronic suppression and rapid helicopter assault will be studied by militaries worldwide; the strategic consequences for regional stability and great-power competition will unfold slowly and unpredictably.