The Brief

Updated January 03, 2026 at 13:14 PM ET

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Hours after the United States carried out airstrikes overnight in Venezuela and captured the country's President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, President Trump said the U.S. would temporarily take control of the government.

"We're going to run it, essentially," Trump said at a late-morning news conference at Mar-a-Lago. He said that would continue "until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition."

He said "we are designating various people" to run Venezuela and declined to rule out "boots on the ground."

Just prior to the news conference, Trump posted to social media a photo he said showed a blindfolded Maduro in handcuffs. "Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima" the post read.

Trump said Maduro had been captured in "the dead of night," noting that the lights in Caracas "were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we had."

The president made several references to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, a U.S. policy that was originally meant to warn European powers away from interfering in the Western Hemisphere , but eventually came to justify U.S. interventions in Latin America.

Trump said of the policy, "we have superseded it … a lot they now call it the Donroe Doctrine," adding: "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere won't be questioned again. ... Not again."

He said Venezuela's oil business "has been a bust, a total bust for a long period of time."

"We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, going to spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country," he said.

In an answer to a question about the cost of running Venezuela, Trump said: "It's not going to cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is substantial."

"We're going to get back our oil," Trump said.

In a statement, a Chevron spokesman said the petroleum company "remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets."

Trump's statements followed a series of explosions and fires reported around Caracas in the early hours of the morning.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York on drug, arms and conspiracy charges.

"They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," she said.

The Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment against Venezuela's president and his wife, adding to previous indictments from 2020.

In an interview on Fox News, Trump said Maduro had tried to negotiate with the U.S. in the final days before his capture -- a request Trump says he refused. "I didn't want to negotiate," Trump said. "I said, 'Nope, we got to do it.'"

Trump described the strike as "unbelievable."

"I think we had nobody killed, I have to say, because a couple of guys were hit, but they came back in. They're supposed to be in pretty good shape," he said.

Trump added: "we were prepared to do a second wave ... but this was so lethal ... but didn't have to."

The Venezuelan government swiftly accused the U.S. of launching what it called a "grave military aggression" against the country. In a statement posted on Telegram, the government said U.S. forces targeted civilian and military locations in Caracas as well as in the nearby states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira, calling the attack a "flagrant violation" of the United Nations Charter.

On state television, Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said government and military officials had been killed by U.S. strikes across Venezuela. She added the government does not know the whereabouts of President Maduro and his wife and demanded proof of life.

Early Saturday morning, Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello appeared flanked by police, saying the Venezuelan government will not be cowed.

Videos circulating on social media platforms and first-person accounts indicated the blasts began around 2 a.m. local time (1 a.m. EST).

A journalist in Caracas, who NPR is not naming for safety reasons, told us they woke up to two explosions at La Carlota military airport, located across the street from their home. They saw two fires on the runway that were quickly extinguished. Immediately afterward, they reported hearing similar detonations in other parts of the city and planes flying low over Caracas for at least an hour.

Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026.

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The explosions come as the U.S. has been increasing pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has accused Maduro of leading a drug-trafficking organization known as the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns.

Since late August, the U.S. has deployed aircraft carriers and warships to the Caribbean. The U.S. military has struck dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific it claimed were transporting drugs toward the U.S. At least 115 people have been killed in at least 35 known strikes on the vessels.

The U.S. naval flotilla is the largest such deployment to the Caribbean in decades.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted earlier comments by Rubio saying that Maduro is not the legitimate president of Venezuela but instead the head of "a narco-terrorist organization which has taken possession of the country."

In a letter posted on social media, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Price, said that Edmundo Gonzalez, who is widely regarded as the legitimate winner of the 2024 Venezuelan elections, should assume the presidency. Gonzalez is currently living in exile in Spain.

"Venezuelans, the HOUR OF FREEDOM has arrived!" she wrote on X, reacting to Maduro's removal.

"Nicolás Maduro, as of today, faces international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations. Faced with his refusal to accept a negotiated exit, the United States government has fulfilled its promise to uphold the law."

The White House briefed congressional leadership only after the operation, according to a source familiar with the matter who is not authorized to talk publicly.

"We got no notice at all from the White House or from anyone," said Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, who is ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

Castro told NPR that Secretary Rubio told lawmakers "that they would come before Congress to get elements and authorization for use of military force for anything that required it."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., praised Trump's actions and said he expects Congress will learn more about the strikes when lawmakers return to Washington this week.

"President Trump's decisive action to disrupt the unacceptable status quo and apprehend Maduro, through the execution of a valid Department of Justice warrant, is an important first step to bring him to justice for the drug crimes for which he has been indicted in the United States," Thune said in a statement.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, said Rubio briefed him on the strike, telling him he anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody. Lee said he looked forward to learning what might constitutionally justify the Venezuela operation in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.

"I definitely support Maduro facing his own people for the crimes he committed in terms of holding power illegitimately," he says. "Whether or not it's up to the United States to make that happen, I think is a different question."

Todd Robinson, a former charge d'affairs in Venezuela during the first Trump administration, who was expelled by Maduro's government in 2018, called the military operation in the country "virtually unprecedented."

Speaking to NPR, Robinson said: "The idea that in our hemisphere, we would go into another country and … arrest the de facto leader of the country.

"Obviously, it doesn't happen every day. … and I think there are a lot of legitimate questions about what comes next," he said.

Maduro has repeatedly accused Washington of attempting to remove him from power in order to gain access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves, among the largest in the world.

Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Rubio confirmed to him that Maduro is in U.S. custody and "will face justice for his crimes against our citizens."

"The interim government in Venezuela must now decide whether to continue the drug trafficking and colluding with adversaries like Iran and Cuba or whether to act like a normal nation and return to the civilized world," Cotton wrote on X.

Congressional Democrats have blasted the action, with Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern calling it an "unjustified, illegal strike on Venezuela."

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said the strike "sends a horrible and disturbing signal to other powerful leaders across the globe that targeting a head of state is an acceptable policy for the U.S. government."

"Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth looked every Senator in the eye a few weeks ago and said this wasn't about regime change. I didn't trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress," Kim wrote in a post on X. "Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war."

Regional reaction has been swift. Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel, a close ally of Venezuela that depends heavily on its oil, denounced the attack as "criminal." Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said his forces are deploying to the Venezuelan border and promised additional support "in the event of a massive influx of refugees." By contrast, Argentina's President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, praised the operation, posting on X: "Freedom advances."

Eyder Peralta contributed reporting from Mexico City. Kelsey Snell and Scott Neuman contributed reporting from Washington.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, face a raft of charges in the United States following President Trump's announcement early Saturday that the U.S. attacked Caracas and took them into custody.

Maduro, Flores and senior Venezuelan officials face charges related to alleged "drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies," according to an unsealed indictment posted on social media Saturday by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The indictment alleges that, starting in 1999, the defendants partnered with international drug trafficking organizations to ultimately transport thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States.

Maduro and his wife "will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," Bondi wrote in an earlier post on X.

The new indictment adds to charges from the first Trump administration, when the U.S. Justice Department announced a federal indictment against Maduro in March 2020.

That indictment alleged that Maduro was the leader of the Cartel de los Soles, and that he and other defendants took part in a narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Colombian guerrilla group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Prosecutors said that the Cartel de los Soles was made up of high-ranking Venezuelan officials who abused the Venezuelan people and corrupted the nation's institutions to import large quantities of cocaine into the United States.

According to the 2020 indictment, Maduro helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel de los Soles, which sought to get rich and flood the U.S. with cocaine, allegedly using the drug as a weapon against the United States.

Prosecutors said that Maduro helped negotiate multi-ton shipments of cocaine, and directed the Cartel de los Soles to provide military-grade weapons to FARC.

He also allegedly coordinated foreign affairs with Honduras and others to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking.

The current Trump administration has ramped up the pressure over the past year. In November 2025, the U.S. designated the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization.

The new indictment released Saturday reiterates these charges and also alleges that Maduro "partnered" with organizations including the Sinaloa Cartel, the Zetas and Tren de Aragua.

Separately, the International Criminal Court has been investigating the Venezuelan government for alleged torture, sexual violence and arbitrary detentions.

This is a developing story, which may be updated.

The impact of the Trump administration's stunning airstrikes and "capture" of Nicolás Maduro already are being felt well beyond Venezuela's borders — the most significant U.S. intervention in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama.

President Gustavo Petro in neighboring Colombia announced that security forces were deployed along the border to prepare for a possible refugee influx. Colombia hosts the largest Venezuelan diaspora.

Petro confirmed multiple strikes in Caracas, including a military airbase, other installations and the legislative building. He condemned the attack as an aggression against Venezuela and Latin America, urging de-escalation.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned the U.S. attack on neighboring Venezuela and the seizure of Maduro, saying the strikes "crossed an unacceptable line" and set a "dangerous precedent."

Lula said the action evoked "the worst moments of interference" in Latin America and threatened the region's status as a zone of peace. Despite his past alliance with Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chávez, relations have cooled since Brazil refused to recognize Maduro's disputed 2024 election victory, widely dismissed as fraudulent.

Other regional powers, including Chile and Mexico, echoed strong condemnation. Mexico called the strikes a violation of the U.N. Charter and urged an immediate halt to acts of aggression. In a Fox News interview Saturday, President Donald Trump said Mexico was run by drug cartels, adding, "Something is gonna have to be done with Mexico."

Cuba and Nicaragua — two of Venezuela's closest allies — are closely monitoring the crisis. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel labeled the U.S. action "state terrorism" and called for urgent international intervention.

Cuba, facing its most severe economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union, relies heavily on Venezuelan oil. Any disruption could worsen an already dire situation, and the government in Havana — which has been in power since 1959 — has been watching the unfolding situation closely.

What's next: The global stage

Close allies China and Russia also have reacted. Russia condemned the strikes, reaffirming solidarity with the Venezuelan people. In a statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry called the Trump administration's pretext for attacking Venezuela unfounded and said if the reports of Maduro's capture were true, the U.S. action marked an "unacceptable assault" on Venezuela's sovereignty.

Despite such expressions of support, Moscow has stopped short of challenging the U.S. more forcefully amid a months-long pressure campaign by the Trump administration against the Venezuelan leadership.

China said it strongly opposed the U.S. action, condemning the move as a violation of international law. In a statement, the foreign ministry said Beijing was "deeply shocked" by what it called Washington's "blatant use of force" against a sovereign state, arguing it infringed on Venezuela's sovereignty and threatened peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the E.U. supports "a peaceful and democratic transition" in Venezuela. But she stopped short of criticizing the U.S. attack.

"We stand by the Venezuelan people and support a peaceful and democratic transition," she said, adding that any solution must respect international law and the U.N. Charter.

Venezuela has called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, raising questions about the legality of the U.S. operation. In a statement, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply alarmed" by the overnight developments, expressing concern "that international law hasn't been respected."

Updated January 03, 2026 at 12:01 PM ET

This is a developing story.

President Trump said the U.S. will run Venezuela until a "proper transition can take place," as he defended Saturday's military strikes that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

"We're there now, but we're going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place," Trump told reporters from Mar a Lago. "So we're going to stay until such time as we're going to run it, essentially, until such time as a proper transition can take place."

Trump's remarks cap a dramatic few hours that began with reports of explosions in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, the scale of which became apparent only when the president said Maduro and his wife had been captured. Trump later told Fox & Friends that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were being brought by boat to New York where they'd stand trial.

He said U.S. oil companies would head to Venezuela to operate in their oil reserves, and the military is set to attack again if necessary to secure the effort.

"We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country, and we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so," he said.

Watch President Trump's remarks

Trump said there were some U.S. injuries sustained during the operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power, but no fatalities.

"This is something that gee, I don't know, is amazing and to have a few injuries but no death on our side was really amazing," Trump told Fox and Friends ahead of his Mar-a-Lago address.

Trump told Fox that he watched the "extremely complex" operation unfold "like I was watching a television show."

Trump defended the operation, telling the network, "You know what, we did a great job with stopping drugs from coming into this country, and nobody's been able to do it until we came along. But they should say, 'great job.' They could say, 'Oh, gee, maybe it's not constitutional.' You know, the same old stuff that we've been hearing for years and years and years."

He was asked by Fox about China's concerns about control of the oil and responded that he has a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"There's not going to be a problem, and they're going to get oil. We're going to allow people to have oil, but we can't take a chance after having done this incredible thing last night of letting somebody else take over, where we have to do it again," he said.

Trump did not outline clear next steps for regime change, but noted Venezuela does have a sitting vice president and sent a warning to anyone who might continue supporting Maduro.

"Well, if they stay loyal, the future is really bad, and really bad for them. If they convert, there's a conversion factor. I would say most of them have converted. He's had very little loyalty," he said.

Copyright 2026 NPR

The start of January often feels like an opportunity for a clean slate, and for many people, that means cutting out alcohol for the month, a challenge widely known as Dry January.

What started as a personal experiment for one person in the U.K. has now grown into a global phenomenon. And it's one that researchers say can offer real health benefits. For others, it's the turning point to life-altering change that lasts beyond 31 days.

For Amanda Kuda, that change began nine years ago. She had gone out Dec. 30, and woke up the next day with a ferocious hangover.

"I said to myself, 'This is not the life that I want to live,'" she tells NPR.

So the next day, she committed to not drinking alcohol for the entire month. When the month was up, Kuda said she felt some big health benefits.

"Because I wasn't dragging myself down with hangovers and alcohol, I was able to, all of a sudden, workout every day," she says. "And then I was recovering so much more quickly because my body was in its most vibrant state."

Studies have shown that abstaining from alcohol for even moderate drinkers can contribute to better sleep, weight loss and clearer skin.

The 'official' Dry January

People use the term 'Dry January' to refer to their effort to cut alcohol out for the entire month, just like Kuda.

But the "official" challenge began across the pond in the U.K., according to Richard Piper, CEO of Alcohol Change UK, the organization that started the official (and trademarked) version. 

Alcohol Change UK's mission is to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.

"We never tell people how much or how little to drink. We want to empower people to make that choice themselves," Piper says. "We do that by our behavior change programs like the Dry January program."

Dry January started with the group's former deputy CEO, Emily Robinson, in 2011. At the time, she was reading more about the harms of alcohol consumption — at the same time as her half-marathon training.

Piper says Robinson "wondered what would happen if she had a whole month not drinking" and how it could benefit her running.

"Spoiler alert: It really improved her running performance, but she gained other benefits as well," Piper says.

In 2013 Alcohol Change UK made its Dry January challenge official and trademarked the name. This official challenge includes an app, daily email and online peer support groups — all with the goal of supporting participants in this challenge, Piper said.

It's now in its 13th year and has grown with more than 1 million downloads on their app, according to Piper.

A global phenomenon

Some research indicates that younger Americans are generally drinking less than prior generations. A Gallup poll released last summer reveals that the percentage of Americans who say they drink alcohol fell to a record low. Only 54% of Americans said they drink alcohol, according to the analytics company, which has tracked Americans' drinking habits since 1939. That's one percentage point under the previous record low in 1958.

Along this general move away from a glass of wine or beer, the unofficial Dry January trend has exploded as well.

Piper says he'd prefer if everyone took part in the official challenge put on by Alcohol Change UK to get the most support and benefit, but he says he supports anyone's effort to stop drinking, regardless of the length of time.

"One of the things I love about the Dry January phenomenon is that cultural feeling of, 'Hey, we're in this together,'" he says. He adds that taking 31 days off from alcohol can be beneficial.

"We think of it sometimes like a fire break, like you have a gap between the trees in a forest in order that the fire can't spread. It stops your alcohol [use] getting worse and worse over time."

And for Kuda, that break nine years ago helped launch her into a new life without alcohol: She's now a sober coach and author.

She says her first Dry January "kind of just snowballed into three months, into six months and a year. I decided to keep going. I was living a pretty miraculous life, and I didn't want to go back."

Copyright 2026 NPR