After months of spiralling tensions the US carried out an audacious large-scale strike on Venezuela, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in the dead of night and removing them from the country.
The raid has plunged the South American nation into uncertainty, with Mr Maduro set to face court in New York on terrorism and drugs charges.
The legality of the weekend operation has been called into question. So too has US President Donald Trump's interest in Venezuela's vast oil supplies.
These are the key points to get up to speed with what we know and the current state of play.
- How did the raid unfold?
- Why did the US capture Maduro?
- Were the US actions legal?
- How much is it about oil?
- What do Venezuelans think?
- What are other countries saying?
- What's next?
How did the raid unfold?
What the US has dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve was months in the planning.
US intelligence agents had been tracking the Venezuelan president's every move waiting for all the pieces to be in place.
Elite troops, including the US Army's Delta Force, created an exact replica of Mr Maduro's safe house and practiced how they would enter the strongly fortified residence.
Since August the CIA had a small team on the ground providing insight into Mr Maduro's pattern of life to make grabbing him seamless, according to one source familiar with the matter.
Then the call came to pounce.
Shortly before 11pm on Friday local time, Mr Trump ordered the US military to launch an operation with the aim to snatch Mr Maduro from his highly-fortified compound in Caracas.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, said the operation involved more than 150 aircraft launched from 20 bases around the Western Hemisphere, including F-35 and F-22 fighter jets, and B-1 bombers.
Several military locations were struck throughout the Venezuelan capital during the hours-long raid.
A main target was Fuerte Tiuna, a strategic hub for the Venezuelan military, where Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández said Mr Maduro's safe house was located.
Mr Trump watched it all unfold live from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
US troops reached Mr Maduro's safe house at around 2am on Saturday where General Caine said the Venezuelan president and his wife surrendered.
By 3:20am, US helicopters were over water, with Mr Maduro and his wife on board.
Shortly after, Mr Trump posted a photograph of the captured Venezuelan leader blindfolded, handcuffed and wearing grey sweatpants.
Dr Charles Faint, the former chair for the Study of Special Operations at the Modern War Institute at West Point, called the operation a "masterful precision strike".
Venezuelan authorities have said the US hit areas in La Guaira, Caracas and the neighbouring states of Miranda and Aragua and that soldiers, civilians and much of Maduro's security team were killed.
They have not offered specific figures on dead and injured.
Cuba's government said 32 of its officers were killed during the US strikes and operation to extract Mr Maduro.
Back to top
Why did the US capture Maduro?
Mr Trump has long had his sights set on the Venezuelan president and was vocal about his plans to use force against the country.
The pressure campaign kicked off with a $US50 million ($75 million) bounty put on Mr Maduro's head in August.
Then the US started carrying out deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.
The US military build-up in the waters off South America continued to grow, including the deployment of the USS Gerald R Ford — the world's largest warship.
This was done as part of a mission to combat "organised criminal narco-terrorists", the Pentagon said.
The US alleges that Venezuela has engaged in state-sponsored drug trafficking with its support of notorious gangs, including the Cartel of the Suns, which the US declared a terrorist organisation late last year.
Mr Maduro has always insisted the real purpose of US military operations was to force him from office and seize the country's oil reserves.
Washington has said it does not recognise Mr Maduro, in power since 2013, as Venezuela's legitimate president.
Mr Maduro has ruled Venezuela with a heavy hand since being picked by his predecessor Hugo Chavez.
He was sworn in for a third term in January 2025 following a 2024 election that was widely condemned as fraudulent by international observers and the opposition.
The 63-year-old socialist was long accused by critics both at home and abroad of being a dictator who jailed or persecuted political opponents and repeatedly staged sham elections.
Back to top
Were the US actions legal?
Concerns have been raised about the legality of the Trump administration's actions, with even some US allies suggesting it violated international law.
It appears the US may argue it was acting in self-defence.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz claimed Venezuela was "coordinating with the likes of China, Russia, Iran, terrorist groups like Hezbollah".
"Pumping drugs, thugs, and weapons into the United States of America, threatening to invade its neighbours," he told Fox News.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also called the strikes a law enforcement operation, not a prolonged invasion of a foreign country.
He used that as justification for not notifying US Congress in advance of the attack.
Ben Saul, UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter terrorism, called the justification "complete nonsense".
"It was a high-intensity military operation involving the bombing of multiple military bases and other targets in Venezuela," he told ABC Radio National Breakfast.
He added that the operation "squarely prohibited use of force under the United Nations charter", classifying the strikes as an "armed attack" which gave Venezuela the right of self-defence against the US.
The UN Charter stipulates that members "shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state".
Dr Saul said the "international crime of aggression" was also breached where leaders "order and carry out an invasion of another country".
"That's a crime under international law," he said.
The UN Security Council will meet for urgent discussions on the situation in Venezuela.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the US military's capture of Mr Maduro set a "dangerous precedent".
Back to top
How much is it about oil?
Venezuela has the largest proven reserves in the world with 303.2 billion barrels.
In November the country produced an estimated 860,000 barrels per day according to the International Energy Agency.
But that represented less than a third of what the country produced a decade ago.
Hours after the capture of Mr Maduro, Mr Trump said the US would be taking a "tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground" in Venezuela.
"We're going to have our very large US oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country," he told reporters.
Rajan Menon, a former non-resident senior fellow at Defense Priorities, told ABC News Channel the US action was due to Venezuela's oil reserves.
"It produces only about barely one per cent of world output but that can be scaled up if the outdated infrastructure is updated," he said.
"What Trump has said is we will run Venezuela for a while. I don't know what that means.
"But our multinational corporations will come back into Venezuela, the oil will gush, Venezuelans will make and we will make money. That's the plan — as bizarre as it sounds."
The Trump administration has faced domestic criticism for its actions.
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene said it was against the "America First" platform.
"If this was really about narco-terrorists and protecting Americans from cartels and drugs being brought into America, the Trump administration would be attacking Mexican cartels," she said.
"This is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of, that doesn't serve the American people, that actually serves the big corporations, the banks and the big oil executives."
Ms Taylor Greene was once a staunch Trump supporter but recently resigned from US Congress after publicly challenging the president on several policy issues, most significantly the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
US Democratic senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy, said drugs from Venezuela were heading to Europe, not the US.
"Fentanyl is the drug that's killing Americans — that's not coming from Venezuela," he said.
"Venezuela produces cocaine, 90 per cent of it is not coming to the United States.
"You saw within hours of the invasion the announcement of a group of Wall Street investors [and] energy industry investors planning a trip to Venezuela to make money off of this invasion, off of this ouster."
Back to top
What do Venezuelans think?
Venezuelans both at home and abroad are divided following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
Last month a United Nations fact-finding mission said it had found Venezuela's Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) had committed serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity over more than a decade in its targeting of political opponents.
[DW US to Venezuela]It included arbitrary detentions, sexual violence and torture during protest crackdowns, and targeted political persecution since 2014 under Mr Maduro.
The alleged crimes have seen almost 8 million Venezuelans flee abroad since 2014, according to the UN.
But in the country's capital, Caracas, demonstrators took to the streets showing signs of anti-US sentiment, calling for the release of their captured leader Mr Maduro.
Others such as construction worker Daniel Medalla, 66, were more muted in their celebration out of fear of government reprisal in Venezuela.
"We were longing for it," he said.
In Australia, protesters gathered on Sunday with some describing watching the events from afar as distressing, and filled with complicated emotions.
Genesis Lindstrom, the president of the Venezuelan Association of Australia (VAA), was in contact with family in real time when news first broke.
"The intervention or any military action was something that we have been hearing rumours about," she said.
"But to actually start receiving a flurry of messages on WhatsApp and social media with videos about helicopters flying around, and getting messages from my family that they are filming from their window, was quite harrowing to be honest."
Tens of thousands of kilometres away, Gloria Sosa celebrated at an anti-Maduro demonstration, having lived in Mexico City for about 18 years.
"The narco-government is finished. The narco-government in Venezuela is over," she said.
"We feel happiness and peace."
However, some supporters of Mr Maduro chanted slogans rejecting what they called US interventionism.
Back to top
What are other countries saying?
Bronwen Maddox, director and chief executive at Chatham House, said the Trump administration's actions presented US allies with a "moral and tactical quandary".
And for Mr Trump's opponents it was an opportunity, and also a threat.
"The consequences will take time to play out. US opponents will no doubt play up the lack of a clear justification under international law," she said.
"Russia will use US actions to bolster its justifications for its invasion of Ukraine. China may cite Venezuela in its rhetoric regarding Taiwan."
Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay issued a joint statement rejecting "the unilateral military operations in Venezuela".
Russia's Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev and a senior lawmaker said Mr Trump's actions were unlawful and destabilising, while portraying them as a blunt assertion of US interests.
Australia's neighbours including Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia resoundingly expressed "grave concern" over the US intervention.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded with a cautious statement saying the government was "monitoring developments".
"We urge all parties to support dialogue and diplomacy in order to secure regional stability and prevent escalation," he wrote on X.
"Australia has long held concerns about the situation in Venezuela, including the need to respect democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
"We continue to support international law and a peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people."
Some countries, such as Argentina, were celebrating.
President Javier Milei responded with a post on X with his slogan "LONG LIVE FREEDOM!"
Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu also congratulated Mr Trump for "bold and historic leadership on behalf of freedom and justice".
European states have largely called for international law to be respected without specifically calling out Washington.
Many avoided the topic, instead expressing they were glad Mr Maduro's would no longer be in power.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was not sad that Mr Maduro was no longer president of Venezuela.
"The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela," Mr Starmer said in an official statement.
"We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate president and we shed no tears about the end of his regime."
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the prime minister of Greece, said the end of the regime offered "new hope for the country".
While Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni deemed the US operation legitimate, describing it as a "defensive intervention".
France's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot specifically named the capture of Mr Maduro as being a violation of "the principle of not resorting to force, that underpins international law".
"France reiterates that no lasting political solution can be imposed from the outside and that only sovereign people themselves can decide their future," he wrote on X.
Back to top
What's next?
A US Justice Department indictment contends Mr Maduro's government was fuelled by an extensive drug-trafficking operation that flooded the US with thousands of tons of cocaine.
Currently, Mr Maduro is being held in a notorious Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on drugs and weapons charges.
His lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of a foreign state, a bedrock principle of international and US law.
Mr Trump had said the US would temporarily "run" Venezuela until there was a "proper and judicious transition".
But Mr Rubio has since suggested that the US would not take a day-to-day role in governing the country.
Venezuela's defence minister demanded Mr Maduro's release, maintaining that the ousted president was still the rightful leader of the South American country.
The military, which has long acted as the arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela, has thrown its support behind Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice-president under Maduro.
Alex Plitsas, the head of the Atlantic Council's Counterterrorism Project, said a best-case scenario would be that the situation was a catalyst for an "elite defection".
"Faced with legal exposure, sanctions, and loss of patronage, regime underlings could seek guarantees for safe passage, limited amnesty, or third-country exile in exchange for transferring authority to the legitimately elected opposition," he said.
But there was the "much darker" worst-case scenario.
"If regime remnants reject negotiation and fragment, Venezuela could descend into a protracted guerilla conflict," Mr Plitsas said.
Australians have been advised to avoid travel to Venezuela amid the uncertainty.
"Do not travel to Venezuela due to the dangerous security situation, the threat of violent crime, political and economic instability and risk of arbitrary detention," the Smartraveller website said.
ABC/wires
