The deal could be worth $2.8 billion as Trump meets with oil executives amid tensions following Maduro's capture.

Early in the morning of January 3, 2026, residents of Caracas, Venezuela, awoke to bombs falling from the night sky. Gunshots rang out near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s presidential compound. Mere hours later, United States President Donald Trump announced that Maduro was in custody aboard the USS Iwo Jima.

Today’s U.S.–Venezuela tensions aren’t just about a single strike or a single policy decision, they’re the result of years of political decay, economic mismanagement, and a long-running

Seemingly contradictory statements from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have suggested at once that the U.S. now controls the levers of Venezuelan power or that the U.S. has no intention of assuming day-to-day governance.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt discussed Venezuela and fraud in Minnesota during an interview with FOX News host Jesse Watters. JESSE WATTERS, HOST: So, down in Venezuela, there's a lot of action,

Venezuela has millions of barrels of oil loaded on tankers and in storage tanks that it has been unable to ship due to a blockade on exports imposed by Trump since mid-December

The U.S. striking Venezuela and capturing its leader has practical implications for China, Russia, Iran and Cuba, and it also sends messages to each nation.

Following the United States’ recent operation in Venezuela and the capture of the latter country’s President, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Americans’ travels to the South American nation should remain on hold.