US cyber attacks plunged Caracas into darkness

 US cyber attacks cut off power to large areas of Caracas to allow planes and helicopters to strike key military sites and capture Nicolás Maduro.

Cyber command, space command and other American agencies layered effects to ensure more than 150 of its planes, drones and helicopters could approach the Venezuelan capital undetected.

Cyber operators blacked out the city lights in the early hours of Saturday before the joint air component dismantled and disabled Venezuela’s air defence systems to ensure the safe passage of helicopters into the area of Mr Maduro’s compound, said General Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

“It was dark, the lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have, it was dark, and it was deadly,” Donald Trump boasted in a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.

Offensive cyber operations are typically shrouded in secrecy. Last month Washington was accused of orchestrating a huge cyber attack that crippled Venezuela’s oil and gas infrastructure, reportedly forcing the suspension of operations at loading terminals for three days. The US did not comment.

The CIA was also said to have carried out a clandestine cyber attack against Mr Maduro in the final year of Mr Trump’s first administration, disabling the computer network used by his intelligence service, according to sources speaking to CNN.

It emerged on Sunday that more than 40 Venezuelans might have been killed in the early-morning air strikes on Caracas and three other Venezuelan states that preceded Mr Maduro’s capture by US special forces, according to an official speaking to The New York Times.

The raid was preceded by meticulous planning. Since August, the US had been quietly rehearsing the military operation that Mr Trump would later liken to “a television show”.

However, according to reports from CNN on Sunday, many White House officials secretly thought the plans would not be carried out, believing that the Venezuelan president might still voluntarily step down.

As early as August, the CIA had quietly inserted a unit into Venezuela tasked with constructing an exhaustive portrait of the 63-year-old socialist president’s routine. The operation mapped his habits, and even compiled intelligence on his pets.

Meanwhile, elite troops were running drills on a purpose-built replica of Mr Maduro’s compound similar to the mock-up of Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad home used before the 2011 raid that killed the al-Qaeda leader.

The operational planning unfolded alongside months of closed-door briefings with a small inner circle of Trump administration officials, as Washington steadily escalated pressure on Caracas.

A series of boat strikes sank ships the US said were being used for drug trafficking, and America’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, was sent into the Caribbean in a significant military build-up.

In early December, the Trump administration believed it was beginning to see cracks in Mr Maduro’s support system, according to officials speaking to CNN. But as time went on, they became more convinced of the necessity of direct US intervention, and just before Christmas, Mr Trump approved the operation.

One week before it took place, the US president phoned Mr Maduro privately and gave him one last chance to flee. The dictator refused to budge.

Operation Absolute Resolve, as the raid was codenamed, was given the green light. But it was frustrated for days on end by wind and cloud cover in Caracas.

Then, on Friday, the weather finally broke.

At 8pm Caracas time, amid clear skies, B-1 strategic bombers lifted off from Dyess air force base in Texas. A fleet of more than 150 other aircraft, including F-22, F-35, F-18 fighter jets, took off from more than 20 air bases alongside surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance craft and unmanned drones, according to Gen Caine.

The aircraft converged in mid-air as they pushed for Venezuela. At 11.46pm, after a brief shopping excursion for marble and onyx, and a meal on the Mar-a-Lago patio, Mr Trump gave final authorisation for the lightning raid.

“Good luck and Godspeed,” was his brief message to a team of Delta Force soldiers and pilots.

As Caracas was cloaked in darkness, the night sky filled with the thunder of US helicopters, and detonations began to hit the city. American warplanes were targeting critical infrastructure such as air bases, a port and telecommunications.

Fighter jets, heavy bombers and supporting aircraft systematically dismantled Venezuela’s air defences, clearing a corridor for Delta Force Black Hawk helicopters skimming just 100ft above the water.

Under the aerial shield, US military personnel and federal law enforcement officers were ferried to Mr Maduro’s fortified compound.

The Delta Force team breached the residence at 2.01am Venezuela time by sliding down heavy ropes from hovering helicopters.

From there, the team pushed towards the presidential sleeping quarters at Miraflores, a 19th-century mansion of pink and white stone. Awakened by the noise, Mr Maduro bolted for the reinforced steel panic room in the bedroom.

He was intercepted within moments. Special forces operators stormed the room and bundled Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, into the rear of a Black Hawk.

The mission, which had lasted less than 30 minutes, was complete. US officials told The New York Times that half a dozen American servicemen were injured in the raid, but there were no fatalities.

Mr Maduro and Ms Flores were taken to the warship USS Iwo Jima and transported to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A US operative took a now infamous photograph of their high-profile captive on board the warship, blindfolded, bound and wearing a £200 Nike tracksuit.

From there, the pair were picked up by a Justice Department plane and shuttled to the Stewart International Airport outside New York City. Video footage showed Mr Maduro, dressed in a bright blue hoodie, being led along the tarmac by a large contingent of US officials.

He and his wife were then taken by helicopter to Manhattan, arriving just before 7pm. The White House’s rapid response account posted a video of a “perp walk” by the ousted leader, flanked by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, before he was fingerprinted at the DEA office in Manhattan.

“Good night,” Mr Maduro told the officers, adding: “Happy New Year!”

He was later driven to the Metropolitan Detention Centre, the prison where he will be held before he makes his first court appearance on Monday.