They knew that the tropical dictator’s greatest defense was not the Russian missiles he had inherited, but unpredictability itself: that his movements could not be anticipated or calculated with certainty; that he never slept in the same place two nights in a row (very much in the tradition of a Caribbean strongman — albeit without the beard and the cigar).
Intelligence agencies were aware that he moved constantly between safe houses, military bases, fortified rooms and emergency corridors. He had become a kind of paranoid nomad in a country he himself had plunged into chaos alongside the red-bereted commander. (As an aside: the story of the underground chamber at the Miraflores Palace — where all manner of santería rituals were reportedly performed by babalawos to keep him in power — will have to wait.)
They had evidence that he changed mobile phones the way a snake sheds its skin: 17 different devices in just 90 days. This was not protocol, but fear — each phone a potential act of betrayal.
They also knew his inner circle was a minefield: guards who did not trust one another, ministers who did not trust the guards, and military officers who no longer trusted even their own shadows.
Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental, but it all resembled a game of Clue: no outright betrayal, but a pervasive, silent, strategic distrust; information withheld, truths only partially told, each player protecting their cards as political capital. Power advanced through omissions, deductions and half-clues.
It was the “small but crucial details” that ultimately exposed him. They became key to an espionage network woven by the CIA from 2020 onwards, when the US Department of Justice formally designated him a narco-terrorist.
The tropical dictator undone by routine
The tropical dictator — let us call him Maduro, to distinguish him from others — always ate the same breakfast: sweet arepas, papaya and scalding hot coffee, invariably served by the same woman, who did not appear on the official Miraflores payroll. He entrusted his emotional security and vulnerability to two dogs, Nube and Piraña. Absolute silence was his ironic indulgence in his night refuges, which is why he loathed the noise of electric generators.
Gradually, the CIA learned to anticipate his movements, then to contain, control and finally capture him — much like a cheetah observing an impala, motionless, in the tall grass of the African savannah. It was a textbook hunt.
Killing him was never the objective. The aim was to capture the man who sustained the regime. By all accounts, the US foreign intelligence service had compiled an obsessive manual detailing Maduro’s daily life.
It was also evident that there was an informant — one who emerged after a US$50m reward was offered a year earlier. In a regime where loyalty had ceased to be ideological and had become a matter of survival, it was only logical that someone would take the bait.
The mole’s name remains unknown, but The New York Times confirmed that the CIA had recruited a “human source” inside the Venezuelan government, allowing agents to track the movements of the “big fish” in real time.
This individual appears to have been able to confirm where the target was — and when he would not move. The phrase “He will not move tonight,” reportedly delivered by the source, marked the point of no return for Operation Absolute Resolve — the US military mission of 3 January 2026 that captured Maduro and his wife in Caracas.
Operating in Caracas is no task for novice spies. With no US embassy in Venezuela for seven years, agents worked without diplomatic immunity, legal cover or consular support. They moved like shadows in a city where, as the saying goes, walls have ears.
Surveillance of the target relied heavily on human intelligence, supported by communications tracking and stealth drones — silent, unlit and undetectable by radar. Decoys were eliminated, air traffic monitored, and brief windows without civilian movement identified.
Everything unfolded with Swiss-watch precision. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, Delta Force teams rehearsed the assault on an exact replica of the complex where the dictator was believed to be hiding — complete with reinforced steel, 20-centimetre-thick doors, safe rooms, escape corridors and contingency plans for sudden disappearance.
The mantra was simple: “If it takes five minutes to find him, he’s already gone.” Rehearsals were so intense that the operation became a kind of choreography.
At the same time, the CIA applied sustained pressure: armed drones struck infrastructure linked to drug trafficking; maritime operations destroyed suspect vessels, leaving 115 dead; and psychological warfare fostered paranoia, logistical exhaustion and defensive overload.
Washington, officials insist, also offered negotiation. On 23 December, the US proposed exile in Turkey — an offer that was rejected. Attempts to negotiate oil, and survival itself, failed. There were no cards left to play.
Then came the decisive moment. On Friday 2 January, at 22:46 local time, Reaper drones were already airborne, weather conditions favourable. The message came through: “The target is in frame.” He still believed the hunter was merely his shadow.
A cyberattack plunged Caracas into darkness. Soon after, 150 aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace. Once air defenses were neutralized, strikes targeted radar and communications systems, though civilian impact was unavoidable.
At 02:01, Night Stalkers opened a corridor for Delta Force. The team had three minutes to locate the target and five to secure him. Fifteen Cuban military personnel responsible for his close protection were killed.
Two and a half hours later, aboard the USS Iwo Jima, the “narco-terrorist” was taken into custody, before being flown by the FBI to New York. Former president Donald Trump reportedly watched the operation unfold.
Absolute Resolve delivered a decisive tactical victory, dealt a blow to narcotics networks and dismantled a system of psychological control. But, as intelligence officials suggest, this was only the opening chapter in a broader campaign against authoritarian and criminal networks still operating in the shadows.
