President Donald Trump ordered a\u00a0„large-scale strike“\u00a0against Venezuela to capture its leader and transport him to the United States, where his administration plans to put him on trial.<\/b>
\nPresident Donald Trump ordered a \u201clarge-scale strike\u201d against Venezuela to capture its leader and transport him to the United States, where his administration plans to put him on trial.
The US Army\u2019s Delta Force, an elite special operations unit, led the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, a US official briefed on the matter told Fox News.
The operation has drawn reactions from those in the political arena as well as sports figures with close ties to Venezuela.
Jhonattan Vegas, a Venezuelan golfer who competes on the PGA Tour, appeared to react to the events.
\u201cLong live Venezuela, DAMN IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL\u201d (sic), Vegas wrote on X in a post translated from Spanish.
Vegas, 41, is ranked No. 85 in the world. He had a historic run at the 2025 PGA Championship, becoming the first Venezuelan to take the lead at one of the four major tournaments.
Vegas finished 8-under par after the first 36 holes, placing him atop the leaderboard at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May.
He ultimately finished the major in a tie for fifth place.
Vegas first took an interest in golf when he was just two years old.
\u201cAs a kid, I would hit anything that I could find. Rocks, broomstick, everything,\u201d he told reporters after the opening round of last year\u2019s PGA Championship. \u201cI would grab anything that I could swing and I would do it. Feel like I was a good athlete as a young kid, so that\u2019s kind of how things started.
\u201cWe grew up near a nine-hole golf course owned by the oil companies, and we had access to a course and, plus the love of my dad for the game, put it together, and we started playing.\u201dHere\u2019s the latest on Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s capture:
Once he reached his teens, Vegas left Venezuela and relocated to the US.
He learned English and later took his golf talents to the Texas Longhorns.
Vegas further cemented his name in history when he won the Bob Hope Classic in 2011, making him the first Venezuelan to win a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.
He also represented his native country twice at the Olympics.
On Saturday, Trump described Maduro as being \u201chighly guarded\u201d in a presidential palace that was \u201ca heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas.\u201d
Maduro had nearly made it to a safe room inside it, Trump told reporters, although \u201che was unable to close it.\u201d
In an interview earlier Saturday morning on \u201cFox & Friends Weekend,\u201d Trump said that American forces were armed with \u201cmassive blowtorches,\u201d which they would have used to cut through steel walls had Maduro locked himself in the room.<\/p>\n