It was an audacious gamble, months in the making, and executed with the chilling precision of a Hollywood thriller. The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday was no random snatch; it was the culmination of an intelligence masterpiece, involving everything from shadowy informants and high-altitude drones to, remarkably, the surgical use of blowtorches, according to a composite picture emerging from U.S. and Venezuelan sources.
Operation Absolute Resolve, as the Pentagon code-named it, leveraged years of embedded intelligence and a network of disenchanted Venezuelan insiders, providing the precise coordinates that allowed Delta Force to pluck the strongman from his fortified residence as missiles rained down across Caracas.
The ‘Ghost’ in Fuerte Tiuna: Embedded Intelligence
Key to the operation’s success was intelligence gathered over years, not weeks. U.S. assets had deeply penetrated Venezuela’s military and security apparatus, particularly within the vast Fuerte Tiuna military complex.
- The Blueprint: Informants provided detailed schematics of the presidential residence, including blind spots in security camera coverage, the layout of the underground bunkers, and even the precise location of Maduro’s private chambers.
- The Inner Circle: A crucial breakthrough came in late summer 2025, when a high-ranking member of Maduro’s personal security detail—a “ghost,” as one U.S. intelligence official termed him—began providing real-time updates on the President’s movements and the fluctuating readiness of his personal guard, the Guardia de Honor Presidencial.
- The “Sleep Pattern” Analysis: Delta Force knew Maduro’s routines, including his tendency to work late into the night and his preferred “sleep sanctuary” within his compound, thanks to this insider.
Eyes in the Sky: Drones, Satellites, and a Moment of Dark
As the clock ticked past 1:00 AM local time, the skies over Caracas were far from silent. U.S. intelligence assets established complete air dominance before the first strike.
- Sentinel Drones: High-altitude RQ-4 Global Hawk drones provided persistent surveillance, feeding live imagery to command centers. Lower-flying, stealth RQ-170 Sentinels allegedly tracked key personnel movements around Maduro’s compound.
- Satellite Pinpoint: U.S. military satellites were crucial for directing precision strikes on air defense sites and communication nodes.
- The “Dark” Window: Critically, U.S. cyber warfare units executed a localized digital blackout, plunging key sectors of Caracas, including the Fuerte Tiuna complex, into a tactical “dark” window during the initial missile barrage. This isolated the target and prevented immediate military coordination.
The Blowtorch Breach: Silent Entry
Once the skies were clear and the initial strikes had softened defenses, the ground operation began. The choice of Delta Force was deliberate; their training in direct action and hostage rescue made them uniquely suited for a “capture, not kill” mission.
- The Infiltration: Using silence and speed, teams were reportedly inserted via stealth helicopters at multiple points around Maduro’s residence.
- The “Hot Cut”: Sources indicate that the entry into Maduro’s specific secure living area was achieved not through explosive breaching, which would have risked injury to the target, but through the precise, quiet work of blowtorches. This allowed operators to cut through reinforced steel doors and vault walls, bypassing electronic locks and alarms in a “surgical hot cut.”
- The Handcuffs: It was during this silent breach that Maduro, reportedly caught entirely off guard, was found and quickly secured, along with First Lady Cilia Flores. The entire ground operation, from insertion to extraction, lasted less than 20 minutes.
The Dash to the Coast
With Maduro secured, the exfiltration was equally critical. The pair was moved rapidly to a pre-positioned helicopter, which then flew them to a U.S. Navy vessel in the Caribbean—likely the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship with advanced medical and command facilities—before being flown directly to New York.
The “ghost” informant and the blowtorches represent the audacious blend of cutting-edge technology and old-school espionage that brought down a regime leader. While the geopolitical fallout of Maduro’s capture is just beginning, the story of how he was taken will undoubtedly be taught in special operations war colleges for decades to come.