The US says its military operation to capture Venezuela's president took months of planning, but when Donald Trump gave the order to launch, Operation Absolute Resolve only lasted about 150 minutes.
The surprise early-morning attack on Saturday marked an unprecedented event in modern politics and culminated in the arrest of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Captured by troops from an elite US army unit as they tried to flee into a fortified safe room, the pair are now being held in a detention centre in New York and face narco-terrorism charges.
As the sun rose on Saturday, the scale of the military operation in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, was clear. Pictures from Fuerte Tiuna, a huge military complex where top government officials live, show bombed out buildings and charred, smouldering cars.
Venezuelans have described how US military helicopters flew low over Caracas, heading for Fuerte Tiuna. Pictures show the compound on fire, with flames visible for miles.
Operation Absolute Resolve began with reports of explosions at about 02:00 in Caracas. The US cut power to the city, aiming to disable Venezuela's air defences and clear the path for military helicopters.
General Dan Caine, the nation's highest-ranking military officer, reported that the troops reached the compound swiftly. Maduro and his wife were apprehended without resistance, although they tried to escape to a fortified area inside the complex.
The Maduros were later flown approximately 2,100 miles to New York City, transported by helicopter first to the USS Iwo Jima and subsequently to the Guantánamo Bay Navy base, and finally to a police detention center in Manhattan.
Currently, they face serious charges, including conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, possessing machine guns, and multiple counts against the United States. Attorney General Pam Bondi remarked, They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.
