By By Elizabeth Ugbo
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet today (Friday) with the U.S. special forces soldiers who captured Venezuelan leader Nicolรกs Maduro during a deadly military raid in Caracas on Januaryโฏ3, at Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina, as part of a U.S. operation Trump says was aimed at stopping drug trafficking and removing Maduro from power.
Details of the meeting and operation
President Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, will greet the troops and also meet with military families at Fort Bragg. The mission that led to Maduroโs captureโcalled Operation Absolute Resolveโinvolved U.S. forces entering the Venezuelan capital by helicopter at night and seizing Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from a heavily secured compound.
According to Venezuelan officials, the raid began with U.S. bombing of military targets and resulted in at least 83 deaths and more than 112 injuries, though no U.S. service members were killed. Maduro is now in U.S. custody facing drug trafficking and other charges in New York, where his next court hearing is set for Marchโฏ17.
The White House says the meeting is meant to honour the forces involved, whom Trump has praised as highly skilled and patriotic. He has repeatedly described the operation as a demonstration of U.S. military strength and control in the region.
