Spain’s progressive leader, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has openly criticized Donald Trump for orchestrating the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Meanwhile, other European Union leaders are treading carefully to avoid antagonizing the U.S. President.

Maduro, 63, was apprehended in his home city of Caracas alongside his spouse, Cilla Flores. The operation, executed early on Saturday, was conducted by the United States Army’s elite Delta Force unit, targeting his heavily fortified residence.

According to CNN, the couple was taken by surprise from their bedroom during the night, with the operation completing without any American casualties.

After being under surveillance by CIA operatives, Maduro and Flores were airlifted out of Caracas by helicopter, following a direct command from Trump.

Globally, many countries have been cautious, stopping short of outright denouncing Trump’s decisive actions.

Standing firm, Sánchez has become a vocal critic within the EU, declaring that his administration will not acknowledge any foreign interventions in Venezuela that contravene international law.

He said: ‘Spain did not recognise the Maduro regime. But neither will it recognise an intervention that violates international law and pushes the region toward a horizon of uncertainty and belligerence’.

Others in the EU who joined him included Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico, who scathingly said the US’ incursion was ‘further evidence of the breakdown of the world order’, and Hungary’s Viktor Orban. 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrives at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, as he heads towards the Daniel Patrick Manhattan United States Courthouse for an initial appearance

Low-flying aircraft targeted and destroyed military infrastructure, including air defence systems, to make way for helicopters that landed at Maduro’s compound

Spain’s left-wing prime minister Pedro Sánchez has lashed out at Donald Trump (pictured) for capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro

The Putin-aligned leader said of Trump’s actions: ‘The liberal world order is in disintegration.’ 

But many other EU leaders have attempted to tread a fine line in their responses to Trump’s actions.  

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for ‘restraint’ and respect for international law in Venezuela while emphasising Maduro ‘lacks legitimacy’.

On Sunday the EU issued a statement signed by all member states save Hungary stating that respecting the will of the Venezuelan people was the only way to restore democracy.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the US operation undermined international law, and no solution to Venezuela’s crisis can be imposed externally.

But President Emmanuel Macron later said Venezuelans ‘can only rejoice’ at Maduro’s overthrow.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK will discuss the ‘evolving situation’ in Venezuela with the US while stating Britain will ‘shed no tears’ about the demise of Maduro’s ‘regime’.

And Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga focused on Maduro’s lack of legitimacy and the Venezuelan government’s repression, while backing ‘democracy, human rights, and the interests of Venezuelans’.

The operation was a success and remained a secret until Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured. Trump posted this picture of Maduro aboard USS Iwo Jima on Saturday

Nicolas Maduro has been shuffled into a police SUV this morning, sporting prison garb, as he makes his way from an NYC jail to his first court appearance

Nicolas Maduro is being moved from a prison in Brooklyn ahead of his initial appearance at Daniel Patrick Moynihan courthouse on January 5 

In a rare expression of support for the US operation by a major European country, hard-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – a Trump ally – argued the US military action in Venezuela was ‘legitimate’ and ‘defensive’.

On Sunday Meloni said she had spoken to Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado about a transition of power, with the two agreeing that Maduro’s removal opens a ‘new chapter’ for the country.

Trump has dismissed Machado as a potential successor to Maduro.

In Switzerland, which is not part of the EU, the government made the rare move of freezing any assets held in the nation by Maduro and anyone associated with him ‘with immediate effect’. 

Outside Europe, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was ‘deeply alarmed’ by the US strikes, with his spokesman quoting him as saying it could ‘constitute a dangerous precedent’.

And Pope Leo XIV simply said the ‘welfare of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over all other considerations’.

Earlier today, Maduro and his wife Cilia were filmed awkwardly shuffling along a helipad as the pair were taken to court in New York City to face drugs charges that could result in their execution.  

Maduro is expected to appear in court Monday on drug and weapons charges that carry the death penalty.

A helicopter transports captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as he heads towards the Daniel Patrick Manhattan United States Courthouse for an initial appearance on January 5 

President Nicolas Maduro is moved out of the helicopter at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport on January 5

The US president and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth praised the operation and the fact that no US personnel were killed

He was driven from Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center to a nearby helipad. He was then flown the short distance across the East River to the southern tip of Manhattan. 

There, he was seen shuffling awkwardly off the chopper in shackles before being put into a khaki-colored armored vehicle while surrounded by armed police officers. 

His wife, Cilla Flores, was flanked by his side as DEA agents escorted them from the heliport to the courthouse. 

The Maduros were subsequently driven to Manhattan Federal Court, where he will be arraigned at 12pm ET. 

Maduro’s lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state. 

Trump has accused Maduro of leading the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), which the president claims flooded the US with cocaine. 

A 25-page indictment made public Saturday accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the US They could face life in prison if convicted.

It wasn’t clear as of Sunday whether Maduro had hired a US attorney yet.

Maduro was transported to New York, where he will be tried on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy and weapons charges

Smoke rises from explosions in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 3, 2026 

Maduro and Flores have been under US sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first securing a license from the Treasury Department.

Maduro, his wife and his son – who remains free – are charged along with Venezuela’s interior and justice minister, a former interior and justice minister and Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, an alleged Tren de Aragua leader who has been criminally charged in another case and remains at large.

The indictment accuses Maduro and Flores of ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders of those who owed them drug money or undermined their drug trafficking operation. 

That included a local drug boss’ killing in Caracas, the indictment said.

Maduro’s wife is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between ‘a large-scale drug trafficker’ and the director of Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office, resulting in additional monthly bribes, with some of the money going to Maduro’s wife, according to the indictment.

While the indictment against Maduro says Venezuelan officials worked directly with the Tren de Aragua gang, a US intelligence assessment published in April, drawing on input from the intelligence community’s 18 agencies, found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.