THE dramatic arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US Delta Force Operatives from the heart of Caracas has been projected by Washington as a spectacular military success.
President Trump described it as a “brilliant operation,” yet beneath the triumphalist rhetoric lies a disturbing question: was this truly a daring unilateral military raid, or a carefully choreographed political drama executed with silent internal consent? To understand improbability of this operation as a purely external military action, one must first examine Venezuela’s security architecture. Venezuelan state had claimed that its defence system was designed not only to counter internal dissent but also to repel any foreign intervention. Bolivarian National Armed Forces were ideologically molded under Chavismo, ensuring unwavering loyalty to President and State.
Venezuela’s active military strength is around 200,000 personnel, supported by a similar number of paramilitary forces. These are divided among the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, and, most importantly, Bolivarian Militia. The militia alone numbered over 4.5 million members, prepared to wage guerrilla warfare in the event of a foreign invasion. Venezuelan Army fields approximately 63,000 regular troops equipped with modern hardware, including Russian-made T-72B1V tanks and BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles. National Guard, with about 23,000 personnel, handles internal security and repression. The Navy and Marine Corps, roughly 15,000 strong, are tasked with coastal defence, while the Air Force, with nearly 10,000 personnel, operates advanced Su-30MK2 fighter jets alongside F-16 aircraft. Above all stands Presidential Honor Guard, a 2,000-strong elite brigade responsible for the president’s personal protection.
First critical layer of Maduro’s security was this Presidential Honor Guard. Comprising handpicked personnel from all branches of the military and intelligence services, and supplemented by Cuban security advisers, its sole mission was to guarantee physical safety of Maduro and his family. In the months preceding the operation, these guards underwent specialized training to counter “non-conventional enemies.” Yet, on the night of January 3, this elite force failed to offer even symbolic resistance. Maduro was arrested at Fort Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest and most sensitive military complex. Far more than a barracks, Fort Tiuna functions as a fortified city, housing the Ministry of Defense, the military’s general command, and the presidential residence, La Vineta. Nestled against mountainous terrain and reinforced with bunkers and tunnels, it was considered virtually impregnable. Maduro’s residence itself was a five-story underground bunker, forty meters deep, equipped to sustain 150 people for months, complete with independent oxygen systems and direct access to a presidential hangar. Despite these formidable defenses, US Delta Force operators reached the president’s bedroom and detained him without resistance, flying him out of the country. US labeled the mission—dubbed “Operation Southern Spear”—a military miracle.
Operational details raise more doubts than admiration. The raid involved helicopters from the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, including MH-47G Chinooks and MH-60 Black Hawks, operating from the USS Iwo Jima positioned roughly 200 kilometers off Venezuela’s coast. The Chinook, a large and relatively slow helicopter, would have required prolonged flight time over Venezuelan airspace, including hovering over a densely populated capital. That such aircraft could operate unchallenged, without interception by fighter jets or surface-to-air missiles, defies military logic. Venezuela possesses one of Latin America’s most advanced air defense networks, featuring Russian S-300VM and Buk-M2 systems capable of engaging targets up to 200 kms away. Russian technicians had serviced these systems only months earlier. For US operation to succeed, these defenses would have had to be deliberately disabled. While limited airstrikes were elsewhere in Caracas, the absence of any response around Fort Tiuna strongly suggests internal collusion—a fixed match rather than a battlefield triumph.
US forces penetrated heavily guarded airspace, conducted precision raids, and exited with minimal resistance. Subsequent revelations about Caracas indicated radar “blindness,” ignored alerts, and logistical facilitation—all pointing toward tacit consent or at least willful negligence by elements within the host state. In Venezuela, senior military figures appear to have reached an understanding with US. Despite public condemnations labeling the arrest an “unacceptable provocation,” no credible explanation has emerged as to where Venezuela’s armed forces were when their president was taken from a fortified military complex.
Caracas operation was not merely about removing an authoritarian leader or combating narcotics trafficking. Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and control over these resources lies at the heart of global power politics. Arrest of Maduro demonstrates that in contemporary geopolitics, sovereignty is fragile when internal loyalty collapses. Steel bunkers, missile shields, and elite guards are meaningless if those entrusted with defense no longer believe in the cause they serve. Venezuela now enters a new era—one where its claims of independence ring hollow and its strategic future appears shaped not in Caracas, but in Washington. Simply, ahead to now Washington will rule the capitals. States fall not only when attacked from outside, but when their institutions rot from within.
—The writer is political analyst, based in Islamabad.
