US strikes Venezuela – DW – 03/01/2026

CBS News and Fox News, citing representatives of the Donald Trump administration confirmed the information on the American strikes on Caracas. Reuters also cited an unnamed U.S. official as saying the United States was behind the strikes.

There has been no official comment from the United States yet. The White House will issue a statement on Venezuela after the US military leaves its airspace, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Photos come from Caracas showing that at Miraflores Palace – the official residence of Nicolas Maduro – armed men on duty soldiers and armored vehicles. Other footage shows residents in nearby areas getting into cars with items – apparently for evacuation.

United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibits U.S. commercial aircraft from flying over Venezuelan territory at any altitude. The New York Times reported it. The FAA cited security risks “associated with ongoing military activity.” The notification is valid for 23 hours and began to take effect on January 3 at 02:00 Venezuelan time (09:00 Moscow time).

US President Donald Trump is at his residence in Mar-a-Lago (Florida). According to the White House, on the evening of January 2, the American leader was detained national security briefing, reported by the New York Times (NYT). She said a number of senior national security advisers have spent significant time at the residence where the president has received foreign leaders in recent days.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called for urgent meetings of the UN and the Organization of American States (OAS). “Caracas is currently being bombed…Venezuela is under attack,” Petro wrote on the social network X. “The OAS and the UN must convene a meeting immediately,” he wrote.

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro declared a state of emergency in the country after the “American attack”, AFP reported. Venezuela claimed “military aggression” by the United States, Maduro’s government said in a statement released on January 3. The strikes hit the capital Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, the statement said, prompting Maduro to declare a state of emergency and call on social and political forces to “activate mobilization plans.”

Residents of several neighborhoods in Caracas ran out into the streets. Venezuelan media outlets Efecto Cocuyo and Tal Cual Digital reported that explosions were also heard in La Guaira, north of Caracas on the country’s coast, as well as in Higuerote (Miranda state). Plumes of smoke were seen in the area of ​​La Carlota airport, where a Venezuelan military base has been located since 2005.

“I was woken up by a noise and, looking out the window, I saw columns of smoke extending towards La Carlota,” said a resident of the Las Mercedes neighborhood in Caracas. La Carlota is home to the air base and military airfield of Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda.

Explosions were heard in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, early in the morning of January 3. According to AP, AFP and Reuters, low-flying planes were visible above the city and at least one column of smoke was visible. In the south of the capital, near a large military base, the electricity was cut.

According to CNN correspondents, the first explosion in Caracas was recorded around 1:50 a.m. local time (8:50 a.m. Moscow time). “One of them was so strong that it shook the windows,” said correspondent Osmarry Hernández.