Picture of fire at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela's largest military complex, after a series of explosions in Caracas on January 3, 2026. Loud explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers, were heard in Caracas around 2:00 am (0600 GMT) on January 3, an AFP journalist reported. Photo: VCG

US President Donald Trump announced early Saturday that the US had carried out a "large-scale strike against Venezuela," claiming that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife had been captured and taken out of the country. The announcement quickly drew international attention and was also widely reported by Taiwan regional media.

"The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Many media outlets in Taiwan closely followed the development. For instance, the China Times created a dedicated keyword tag for "US air raid on Venezuela" to aggregate related reports and updates. Meanwhile, the latest coverage on the Economic Daily News was dominated by reports on Venezuela and the escalating disputes between the US and Venezuela.

A report by Now News titled "Who Is Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Who Was Taken Away by Trump?" noted that on Saturday, the US military launched a large-scale surprise attack on Venezuela. After carrying out a series of pre-dawn airstrikes on multiple locations across the country, US President Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife had been arrested and escorted out of the country, describing the move as a swift "decapitation" operation.

The report introduced that Maduro has served as Venezuela's president since 2013. He began his career as a bus driver and rose through the labor union movement, but later became a prime target of Trump.

Local media "The Liberty Times," widely regarded as a pro-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) outlet reposted US' National Public Radio (NPR)' report, which compiled a list of five major instances of US intervention in Latin America, including the overthrow of the Guatemalan government, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the military intervention in Grenada, support for the Nicaraguan Contras, and the invasion of Panama.

A report by Taiwan media outlet Setn.com noted that the US military carried out a rapid operation in Venezuela, capturing President Maduro in under eight hours. Citing military expert Kuoming Chen, the report claimed that the operation underscored the technological and operational "gap" between US forces and Russian-made weapons. 

Global Times