US President Donald Trump will meet on Friday with the special forces soldiers involved in the operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a deadly raid in Caracas in January.
The meeting, to be held at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina, will also include First Lady Melania Trump, the White House said.
Trump’s planned visit comes after the high-profile military operation on January 3, when US forces carried out a nighttime raid in the Venezuelan capital that resulted in Maduro’s capture. The operation, dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve, involved US special operations units and resulted in the Venezuelan president and his wife being taken into US custody.
According to official reports, the raid was accompanied by US airstrikes and ground movements that left a significant number of Venezuelan and allied security personnel dead. Estimates from US officials put the death toll at about 75, including military and civilian casualties.
In the operation’s aftermath, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were transported to the United States, where they now face federal charges including narcoterrorism and drug trafficking. Maduro has pleaded not guilty, and his next court date is scheduled for March 17 in New York.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and the first lady will meet with military families and the special forces personnel who carried out the operation. “They are heroic members of our forces who helped bring narco-terrorist Nicolás Maduro to justice,” she said.
Trump has publicly praised the January mission as a demonstration of US military capability, describing the forces involved as “unbelievably talented” during a rally earlier in the year. He has also cited the operation as a key example of his foreign policy approach and a point of national pride.
