The president of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that he will present the Congressional Medal of Honor to one of the military personnel who participated in the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.
“We had a great visit to Fort Bragg. We saw many heroes... We will present the Congressional Medal of Honor to a specific person for what just happened in Venezuela... They are great warriors. They are great patriots,” Trump said to the press this Saturday.
On Friday, Trump met in Fort Bragg with the members of the special forces who conducted the military operation on January 3 in Caracas.
Accompanied by the First Lady, Melania Trump, who introduced him as the leader who maintains a “mission of peace through strength,” the president paid tribute to the servicemen who participated in the so-called “Operation Absolute Resolution,” the deployment that brought an end to Maduro’s dictatorship in Venezuela.
"We have the most powerful armed forces in the world," Trump proclaimed before the soldiers, insisting that his administration left behind "the plague of political correctness" within the military.
Although he took advantage of the platform to showcase a narrative of total power, linking in the same speech the military actions against Iran and the operation in Venezuela, the most striking moment of the speech came when he began to publicly detail the capture of Maduro, describing it as a swift, violent, and technologically superior incursion.
Trump recounted that Maduro was located in one of the largest military bases in South America and that his troops arrived before he could take refuge.
He added that the Chavista leader was behind "steel gates" and that U.S. forces had enough equipment to get through them without difficulty. "They arrived before he could hide. But it wouldn’t have made a difference because they had the equipment to break through that gate," he said.
The president also hinted that the operation included special technology to neutralize foreign defenses. He stated that even the "stunners" were decisive and assured that the "Chinese" and "Russian" equipment did not work during the attack. "Well, someday you'll find out, but it didn't work," he said.
Trump also acknowledged that some American pilots were injured during the operation while landing helicopters under machine gun fire, but he emphasized that they were able to extract Maduro within minutes. “By the time they realized what had happened, the helicopters were already departing,” he noted.
According to his account, that night "the whole world saw what the military might of the United States can do."
The early morning of January 3 was marked by explosions in Caracas, the entry of the Delta Force into the presidential complex, and the neutralization of the Cuban security ring protecting the Venezuelan leader. In less than half an hour, Maduro and Cilia Flores were detained while trying to take refuge in a bunker, according to journalistic reconstructions based on satellite images and intelligence reports.
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