Multiple independent sources confirm that Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in early January 2026 and transferred to U.S. custody. Major international outlets (Reuters, The New York Times, AP, CNN, USA Today) and a federal U.S. indictment all report that U.S. special operations forces seized Maduro in Caracas on Jan. 3, 2026 and that he is now detained in the United States awaiting trial.
According to detailed reporting and court records, U.S. special operations forces, supported by intelligence from the CIA and other agencies, conducted a nighttime raid in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 3, 2026. Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were seized at a secure compound in the capital and taken to a U.S. Navy ship (identified as the USS Iwo Jima) offshore. The legal basis cited by U.S. authorities is a U.S. federal criminal case (United States v. Nicolás Maduro et al.) on narcoterrorism, drug trafficking and weapons charges and related U.S. statutes that permit extraterritorial jurisdiction, together with a previously issued U.S. indictment and a superseding indictment unsealed after his capture.
The contemporary “Department of War” (DOW) is the existing U.S. Department of Defense operating under an additional, rebranded title. In September 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14347, “Restoring the United States Department of War,” which authorizes the Department of Defense and its leadership to use “Department of War” and “Secretary of War” as official alternative names. Legally, however, it remains the Department of Defense: its responsibilities and authorities are those set in federal law (e.g., Title 10 U.S. Code) to organize, train, and equip U.S. armed forces and conduct military operations, not a new or separate department with new powers.
Pete Hegseth is a former U.S. Army National Guard officer and media commentator who, under President Trump, became the 29th U.S. Secretary of Defense. After Executive Order 14347, his title in many official contexts is “Secretary of War,” but in law he is the Secretary of Defense. His authority comes from U.S. statutes governing the Defense Department: he is the civilian head of the Pentagon, exercises authority, direction, and control over the U.S. armed forces (except where law lodges authority directly in the president or combatant commanders), and oversees military operations and support to some law‑enforcement activities; he does not personally exercise domestic police powers.
The article’s “seizing suspicious vessels” line refers to ongoing U.S. operations—largely in late 2025 and early 2026—where U.S. forces, including the Coast Guard working with the U.S. military, intercepted and seized ships in the Caribbean and nearby waters that Washington said were involved in sanctions‑evading Venezuelan oil shipments or drug trafficking. In December 2025, U.S. forces seized at least one large crude‑oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast and then additional tankers in the Caribbean and North Atlantic; U.S. officials framed these as law‑enforcement or sanctions actions, not formal acts of war. The specific vessels and seizures summarized in the DOW weekly article are not fully detailed publicly, so a precise list of ship names and boarding units for that particular week is not available.
The “Arsenal of Freedom” tour is a month‑long nationwide campaign by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to promote a buildup of U.S. military production and recruiting. According to the War Department and contemporaneous coverage, the tour is visiting shipyards, aerospace and space‑launch companies, munitions plants, and recruiting stations in multiple states (for example, Newport News shipyards in Virginia and Rocket Lab’s space‑industry facilities in Long Beach, California). Hegseth and senior Pentagon staff lead the events, which also involve local military commands, defense‑industry workers, and some members of Congress, with the stated goal of “revitalizing America’s manufacturing might” and expanding military capacity.
After his capture in Caracas, Maduro was flown to a U.S. Navy vessel and then transferred via Guantánamo Bay to New York, where he was placed in federal custody. A superseding indictment in United States v. Nicolás Maduro et al. was unsealed on Jan. 3, 2026, and he has since appeared in Manhattan federal court, where he pleaded not guilty to drug‑trafficking and related charges and complained he had been “kidnapped.” He is currently detained pre‑trial in a federal detention facility in New York (reported as the Metropolitan Correctional Center or equivalent federal lockup), with further court proceedings—including arraignment and motions over jurisdiction and the legality of his capture—expected as the next steps.
