The Trump administration relied on elite Delta Force and CIA covert action units for the operation to seize President Nicolás Maduro in a highly secretive “snatch and grab” mission to force the Venezuelan leader from power, according to multiple people familiar with the deployments. The CIA identified the location where Maduro and his wife were, and Delta Force soldiers sent by President Donald Trump to the Caribbean conducted the raid. The CIA also provided support to the air, sea and land operations, according to two people familiar with the mission. Those CIA units, among the U.S. government’s most secretive, specialize in irregular warfare and other covert action, and have regularly worked with both the Army’s Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 over two decades of battling Islamist militant groups in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.

Source: Washington Post January 03, 2026 14:38 UTC