Washington deployed 150 aircraft in its brazen mission to extract Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on Saturday, but planning began months earlier.
US spies, plus a source within the Venezuelan government, had been watching Maduro’s movements, and soldiers trained on a replica of his home.
The predawn assault included strikes on key military facilities, while US cyber teams blacked out the lights in Caracas.
Special forces then stormed Maduro’s compound and took him and his wife before they could reach a safe room.
The mission, unprecedented in its scale and speed, prompted pushback from some US lawmakers and experts who argued it was illegal, though the White House defended it as a law enforcement operation.
AD