Bitcoin prices fell, but quickly recovered after Maduro was arrested in Venezuela.

Things to know: According to President Trump, the United States carried out a brief military operation on Saturday morning, capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. The price of cryptocurrencies experienced a short-term, moderate decline when the military operation was first reported, but it later recovered.

The United States launched a “major-scale” attack on Venezuela and its president, Nicolas Maduro, Donald Trump announced in the early hours of Saturday. Trump also stated that Maduro and his wife were arrested and expelled from the country.

U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi announced that Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, were charged with various drug trafficking and weapons-related offenses in New York’s Southern District.

In relation to the military operations in Venezuela, the price of cryptocurrencies was slightly affected around 2 a.m. Eastern Time. Bitcoin fell by approximately 0.5% to $89,300. As of press time, Bitcoin has recovered to $91,094.99.

Why did Trump take action against Venezuela at the beginning of the year?

● Operation in Venezuela

Trump said that this operation was carried out in collaboration with U.S. law enforcement agencies. More details will be announced later. A press conference will be held in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, at 11 a.m. Eastern Time on the 3rd (0 a.m. Beijing time on the 4th). Maduro was captured by U.S. Marine Delta Force units. The Delta Force previously executed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the extremist group ISIS, in 2019.

According to two American officials who preferred to remain anonymous, Trump approved the use of military forces to carry out ground attacks in Venezuela several days before the operation began. The military discussed launching an attack on Christmas Eve last year, but ultimately decided to focus on targeting extremist groups like ISIS in Nigeria instead. The U.S. military prepared to carry out operations after Christmas last year, but all of them were canceled due to unfavorable weather conditions.

On the morning of the 3rd, Colombian President Petro announced on social media the details of the attacks in Venezuela that day. He said that at least ten targets were damaged, including the parliament building, the central district of Caracas, and El Artiguy Airport. The mountain military camp in Cataiara Mal and the Igualate helicopter base were also destroyed. Additionally, power grids in the southern part of Caracas were cut off.

For months, the U.S. has been deploying large-scale military forces near Venezuela’s Caribbean waters, claiming to be fighting against “drug terrorism”. So far, they have sunk about 30 vessels suspected of being drug trafficking ships in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, resulting in over a hundred deaths. In December 2025, both Maduro and U.S. President Trump confirmed that they had spoken by phone.

On January 1st, Maduro made some concessions, stating that Venezuela was ready to engage in serious discussions with the United States regarding efforts to combat drug trafficking. In a speech broadcast on national television that day, he said that if the United States wanted to negotiate seriously regarding agreements to combat drug trafficking, Venezuela was “ready at any time.” He also mentioned that even within the United States, many people do not believe that Venezuela is involved in drug production. Both Venezuela and the United States need to engage in serious negotiations based on an understanding of the facts.

In addition to the drug issue, on December 16th, 2025, Trump ordered the blockade of all oil ships entering or leaving Venezuela. Recently, the U.S. Coast Guard seized at least three oil ships, preventing the export of millions of barrels of oil.

In his speech on January 1st, Maduro also said that if the United States needed Venezuelan oil, Venezuela was willing to accept investments from the United States, such as from the American oil company Chevron. Chevron’s oil operations in Venezuela continue to operate. According to reports, in November 2025, Chevron exported approximately 150,000 barrels of crude oil to the United States per day.

● History is repeating itself

This is the largest military operation carried out by the U.S. military in Latin America in 36 years. The last time such an operation took place was in 1989 in Panama, where then-President Noriega was also captured on January 3rd.

On the early morning of December 20th, 1989, the United States invaded Panama under the pretext of “protecting the lives and property of U.S. citizens.” According to UN statistics, this military operation resulted in the death of nearly 500 Panamanians.

当时的巴拿马在强大的美军面前几无抵抗之力，走投无路的诺列加只得躲进梵蒂冈在巴拿马的驻地机构。经人反复劝说以及美军在外不间断播放重金属摇滚音乐的心理战，诺列加最终于1990年1月3日宣布投降。

1992年，美国法院以走私毒品、洗钱和敲诈勒索罪判处诺列加40年监禁，后减刑至30年，并因入狱期间表现良好而再次缩减至17年监禁。

美国犹他州共和党籍联邦参议员迈克·李1月3日通过社交媒体发布消息称，美国国务卿鲁比奥通过电话告诉他，马杜罗已经被美方抓捕，将就刑事指控在美接受审判。鲁比奥预计美方没有进一步打击委内瑞拉的计划。

美国对委内瑞拉的打压由来已久。1999年左翼的查韦斯当选委内瑞拉总统后，两国关系持续恶化，直至完全断交，试图在西半球孤立委内瑞拉。2006年，美国启动对委制裁，并在此后不断升级。

在特朗普政府第一任期，美国对委实施包括石油制裁、金融制裁、个人制裁在内的“极限施压”，意在迫使该国发生政权更迭。时任拜登政府上台后，美国一度放松对委制裁力度。但特朗普去年1月重新上台后，美国再度收紧对委制裁。