US President Donald Trump on Saturday said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had been captured by US forces, marking a dramatic turn in Washington’s long-running confrontation with the leftist leader, whom the US has accused of running drug cartels and overseeing widespread rights abuses. Trump’s remarks came after months of pressure on Maduro to step down.
FROM WORKING-CLASS ROOTS TO CHAVEZ LOYALIST
Maduro was born on November 23, 1962, into a working-class family and is the son of a trade union leader. He worked as a bus driver in the early 1990s, around the time army officer Hugo Chavez led a failed coup attempt in 1992. Maduro later campaigned for Chavez’s release from prison and emerged as a committed supporter of his leftist political project.
RISE THROUGH VENEZUELA’S POWER STRUCTURE
After Chavez won the presidency in 1998, Maduro entered formal politics and secured a seat in the legislature. He went on to become president of the National Assembly and later served as foreign minister, travelling extensively to build international alliances backed by Venezuela’s oil wealth. Chavez publicly named Maduro as his chosen successor before his death.
PRESIDENCY MARKED BY ECONOMIC COLLAPSE, REPRESSION
Maduro was narrowly elected president in 2013 following Chavez’s death. His tenure has coincided with a severe economic collapse marked by hyperinflation, chronic shortages of food and medicines, and a mass exodus of Venezuelans. His rule has also been associated with allegations of rigged elections and harsh crackdowns on protests, particularly in 2014 and 2017.
SANCTIONS, CONTESTED MANDATE AND GLOBAL SCRUTINY
The US and other countries imposed sweeping sanctions on Maduro’s government, and Washington indicted him in 2020 on corruption and other charges, which he has consistently rejected. He was sworn in for a third term in January 2025 after a 2024 election that the opposition and international observers denounced as fraudulent, with thousands of protesters subsequently jailed. A recent UN fact-finding mission accused Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard of committing serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity over more than a decade.
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With inputs from Reuters
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