On January 4, according to a report from CNN, the official account of the White House released a video on January 3 local time showing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in handcuffs telling those around him, "Happy New Year." This was his first public statement since being taken into custody by U.S. forces earlier that day.
Reportedly, Maduro was at the DEA office in Manhattan, New York, undergoing processing and fingerprinting. Wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and handcuffs, and accompanied by DEA agents, he attempted to speak in English, saying, "Good evening." He then asked himself in Spanish, "That was 'Good evening,' wasn't it?" Maduro repeated "Good evening" to the people in the room, then added in a slightly raised tone, "Happy New Year." In another video segment, Maduro was seen being assisted by DEA agents, with a suspected injury to his left leg causing some apparent difficulty in movement. His specific medical condition has not yet been disclosed. It is understood that Maduro arrived in Manhattan, New York by helicopter that evening. His motorcade first traveled from the heliport to the DEA office in Manhattan, with the final destination being a detention center in Brooklyn. According to prior reports, Maduro had arrived at a detention center in Brooklyn, New York on the evening of January 3 local time and is expected to "appear" in a New York City court next week. Previously, Maduro had undergone relevant procedural handling at a federal facility in New York. Video footage showed authorities guiding an individual wearing dark clothing and a hood onto a helicopter. In the early hours of January 3, the United States launched a large-scale military operation against Venezuela, raiding the capital Caracas and seizing President Maduro and his wife. Former President Trump stated that day that the U.S. would "manage" Venezuela until a "safe" transition could be implemented. U.S. Attorney General Bundy announced via social media on January 3 that Maduro and his wife had been indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Details regarding the insider close to Maduro have been revealed. According to a Reuters report cited, in August 2025, the CIA dispatched a special task force into Venezuela specifically to gather intelligence on Maduro's movements. Coordinating with them was an informant with close ties to Maduro, who not only routinely monitored the president's activities but also relayed information during the U.S. operation, providing the Americans with the precise location of Maduro and his wife.
Furthermore, according to a report from CCTV News, a source familiar with CIA operations revealed that since August 2025, the CIA had deployed a team of clandestine operatives within Venezuela. This team collected information regarding President Maduro's "daily routines" and whereabouts. Additionally, multiple individuals briefed on the U.S. operation disclosed that in the days leading up to, and during, Maduro's capture by U.S. special operations forces, a CIA source within the Venezuelan government continuously provided the U.S. with updates on Maduro's location. These sources stated that it was the CIA's intelligence that was crucial in facilitating Maduro's capture. The agency relied not only on informants within Venezuela but also utilized a surveillance system comprising multiple stealth drones to conduct near-constant aerial monitoring over Venezuelan territory, tracking Maduro's specific location and movements. It is reported that in the autumn of 2025, Trump authorized the CIA to adopt more aggressive actions and, in November, approved the planning and preparation for a series of operations targeting Venezuela. An individual with knowledge of the operation to capture Maduro described it as the result of deep cooperation between the CIA and the U.S. military, involving "months of meticulous planning."
Anti-U.S. demonstrations erupted in 105 American cities. According to Xinhua News Agency, on January 3, protest activities took place in over 100 U.S. cities, demonstrating against the U.S. attack on Venezuela and opposing the use of military force to overthrow foreign governments. These protests were initiated by the anti-war coalition "Act Now to Stop War and End Racism" and occurred that day in 105 cities, including Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, and Miami. The organizing body issued a statement saying that the war launched by the U.S. would bring death and destruction to the Venezuelan people. It stated that the U.S. war machine consumes vast sums of taxpayer money while working families struggle to make ends meet. The American people do not want another war and are saying "no" to the war against Venezuela. On the afternoon of the 3rd, in New York's Times Square, protesters waved Venezuelan flags, held banners with slogans such as "Defend Venezuela, Free Maduro," "Hands Off Venezuela," "U.S. Out of the Caribbean," "No War on Venezuela," and "Trump Must Go," and chanted slogans. A protester from Venezuela spoke at the rally, saying, "Listen to how arrogant Trump's speech is! He says, I want all your oil, all your land, hand over all your property. The Venezuelan people will never agree; they will resist to the end!"
Khamenei issues a statement. According to a Xinhua News Agency report, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a speech on January 3 regarding the U.S. military action against Venezuela, stating that Iran "will never yield to the enemy." In his speech, Khamenei said, "What is important is that when realizing the enemy is arrogantly trying to impose its will on the nation, the officials, the government, and indeed the entire people, one must stand firm against the enemy, resist the enemy with chests thrust forward. We will never yield to the enemy." Khamenei expressed that with public support and full confidence, "we will surely make the enemy kneel down."
In June 2025, Khamenei delivered his first televised address following the Iran-Israel ceasefire. On January 2, Trump had threatened on social media to intervene regarding the unrest in Iran, stating the U.S. "is prepared." Days earlier, he had also threatened that if Iran attempted to revive its ballistic missile program, the U.S. would support Israel in launching another strike against Iran. According to Iranian media reports on January 1, unrest occurred in two Iranian provinces, resulting in at least 3 deaths and 13 injuries. According to a report from the Islamic Republic News Agency on January 3, Khamenei, speaking in the capital Tehran, said that some individuals were exploiting merchants' protests under various pretexts to incite unrest and attempt to undermine national security, which is "absolutely unacceptable." Since the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, Iran has faced multiple rounds of severe sanctions from the U.S. and the West, leading to currency devaluation, severe inflation, and significant damage to economic development. The Tasnim News Agency recently reported that Iran's government economic team was holding emergency meetings to address recent issues concerning exchange rates, trade, and people's livelihoods.
Xinhua Commentary: The Dagger Unsheathed—Nothing More Than This. According to Xinhua News Agency, in the early hours of January 3, the U.S. military launched a large-scale attack on Venezuela, seized President Maduro, and forcibly transported him to the United States. U.S. President Trump publicly declared that day that the U.S. would "manage" Venezuela and announced that major U.S. oil companies would enter Venezuela, investing billions of dollars to "repair" oil infrastructure and generate profits. The dagger is unsheathed—nothing more than this. If the U.S. military's brazen use of force against a sovereign nation and the abduction of its head of state in plain sight is a赤裸裸的 act of hegemony, then the subsequent statements by the U.S. President completely tore off the previous hypocritical mask of "combating drug terrorism," exposing the true face of resource imperialism for all to see. As The Guardian noted, the U.S. action against Venezuela resembles the Iraq war, continuing its consistent pattern of appropriating other nations' resources. Shifting from so-called "judicial justice" to "oil business," this U.S. playbook—from "military raid" to "taking over the government" to "capital entry"—once again demonstrates to the world its complete modern pirate logic: first fabricate charges to militarily destroy a sovereign government and overthrow its regime, then allow its own capital to sweep in and carve up the natural resources. The U.S. actions completely disregard the constraints of international law, seemingly returning the world to the era of野蛮掠夺 colonial plunder. Faced with the U.S.'s公然践踏 blatant trampling of the UN Charter, international anger is escalating. UN Secretary-General António Guterres believes the U.S. action against Venezuela "sets a dangerous precedent." Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva directly condemned it as "placing power above multilateralism." Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel pointed out it is "an act of state terrorism against the Americas." Russian Federation Council Vice Speaker Konstantin Kosachev sternly stated that the U.S. action lacks any substantive basis and is a公然践踏公然践踏 flagrant violation of international law... Even within the United States, such恶劣手法 egregious tactics cannot be ignored. Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona harshly criticized the U.S. for becoming the "world's bully." Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah questioned "what constitutional basis exists to justify the legality of this operation." Former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Benjamin Rhodes deemed it "a regime change in Latin America driven by utterly absurd logic." Derek Grossman, a senior analyst at the RAND Corporation, said, "I never want to hear another U.S. president talk about the so-called 'rules-based international order' again." This replay of 19th-century colonial plunder in the 21st century seriously threatens regional and world peace and security. Even the European Union, an ally of the U.S., issued a call stating that "international law and the principles of the UN Charter must be respected under any circumstances." "Today it is Venezuela, tomorrow it could be any country," Chilean President Gabriel Boric's words articulate the widespread international concern: when the "law of the jungle" replaces international norms, no sovereign nation is safe. The U.S. invasion makes an increasingly clear fact visible to all: the so-called "rules-based international order" touted by the U.S. is, in reality, nothing but a "plunder-based order serving U.S. interests."
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