Photo: a screenshot of NBC News helicopter video showing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arriving at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, New York, on local time January 3, 2026.

More details about the US military's capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro have been revealed, disclosing how CIA source inside Venezuelan government helped track Maduro. 

According to a New York Times (NYT) report on Saturday local time, a CIA source within the Venezuelan government monitored the location of Nicolás Maduro in both the days and moments before his capture by American special operation forces, citing people briefed on the operation.

AFP also reported on Saturday evening local time that US intelligence agents had been secretly monitoring Maduro's every movement since August 2025, despite his widely reported efforts to regularly change locations as tensions mounted with Washington.

"How he moved, where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore -- what were his pets," Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine said Saturday, AFP reported.

AFP reported that the mission also involved months of "pinpoint" planning and rehearsal. The US President Donald Trump said US forces built a replica house identical to the one where Maduro was staying.

The US military was ready by early December but waited for a window of "aligned events," including the weather. Trump said he initially ordered the mission four days ago, but held off for the right conditions, AFP reported.

It is not clear how the CIA recruited the Venezuelan source who informed the Americans of Mr. Maduro’s location. But former officials said the agency was clearly aided by the $50 million reward the US government offered for information leading to Maduro’s capture, NYT reported.

Trump authorized the CIA to take more aggressive action last fall, and then in November approved planning and preparation for a series of operations in Venezuela, NYT reported.

According to AFP, at 10:46 pm Washington time on Friday, Trump gave the order to go. More than 150 US military aircraft then took off from land and sea, including fighter jets, reconnaissance planes, drones -- and the helicopters that would form the crucial core of the mission.

Trump said Saturday in a Truth Social post that Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of Venezuela, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

NYT reported that at least 40 people were killed in the US attack on Venezuela early Saturday, including military personnel and civilians, according to a senior Venezuelan official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe preliminary reports.

The latest US strikes on Venezuela and its capture of Maduro have drawn worldwide condemnation and concern. The UN Security Council announced Saturday that it will hold an emergency meeting on Monday on the US operation against Venezuela.

China is deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the US’s blatant use of force against a sovereign state and action against its president, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson made the remarks on the US military strikes on Venezuela.

Such hegemonic acts of the US seriously violate international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty, and threaten peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region. China firmly opposes it. We call on the US to abide by international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and stop violating other countries’ sovereignty and security, the spokesperson said.

Global Times