Hegst: About 200 US soldiers entered Caracas.
“About 200 of our best American troops went to Caracas in support of law enforcement and captured a wanted person without a single American being killed,” Hegsett told a gathering of sailors and shipbuilders in Virginia on Monday night.
The US defense secretary said the US forces had “night vision cameras” and Maduro “didn’t know they were coming until three minutes before they arrived.”
This is the first time a US official has given figures on the forces involved in the operation to kidnap Maduro. US officials have previously said that elite forces known as Delta Force and a unit of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were involved in the operation.
Senator John Thune, the Republican majority leader in the Senate, said that Hegsett and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would go to Congress to report on the attack on Venezuela.
According to AFP, more than 150 military aircraft also participated in the operation, which had various roles, including attacking Venezuela’s defense systems.
Maduro and his wife were kidnapped on Saturday morning, January 13, 2021, following a US airstrike and were transferred to the United States for trial.
Maduro appeared in a US court on Monday night with his wife, Celia Flores, and Judge Alvin Hellerstein read out the indictment, accusing Maduro of involvement in narco-terrorism.
Maduro, 63, said in court: “I am innocent. I have committed no crime.”