Nicolas Maduro has issued his first comments following his capture after the US went into Venezuela and detained the president.
Donald Trump revealed on Saturday (January 3) that the US had struck Venezuela’s capital city Carcas in the early morning and had captured the nation’s president and wife, Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores.
This came as a massive shock to much of the international community, and Trump held a lengthy press conference later that day giving more details.
In the press conference, he said: “We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.
“We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years, so we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
Trump shared this image on his social media after announcing Maduro had been captured (Truth Social/Donald Trump)
He also added that Maduro and his wife would face the full extent of US justice.
Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.
As well as this, a video has begun to circulate online showing Maduro being escorted into DEA headquarters in New York.
He briefly utters a surprising three-word statement, as cameras capture the moment.
With a small smile, he says: “Happy New Year.”
Donald Trump held a press conference about the capture of Maduro on Saturday(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
During his speech on Saturday, Trump praised the successful operation and also repeatedly condemned Maduro.
He said: “No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday, or frankly, in just a short period of time.
“All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered perilous as the men and women of our military, working with US law enforcement, successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night.
“The lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have. It was dark, and it was deadly.