CJ exclusive Midnight in Caracas: The Final Minutes of “Operation Southern Spear”

Caracas, Venezuela – January 5, 2026

Midnight in Caracas: The Final Minutes of “Operation Southern Spear” and the Fall of the Miraflores Dynasty. 

At precisely 1:50 AM local time on Saturday, January 3, 2026, the silence of the Venezuelan capital was shattered by a sound that few in South America had heard in decades: the high-velocity roar of F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters and the rhythmic thump of MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. 

Within forty minutes, the political destiny of Venezuela was rewritten. Castle Journal has pieced together the final, frantic moments inside the Maduro inner circle as U.S. Delta Force operators executed a “decapitation strike” that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. 

This is the timeline of the collapse.

1:50 AM – The Electronic Blackout

The operation did not begin with a bomb, but with a surge. Seconds before the first physical kinetic strike, a coordinated cyber-assault launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group in the Caribbean neutralized the electrical grid of southern Caracas. 

Fuerte Tiuna—the massive military complex where Maduro had been sleeping for weeks in a fortified bunker—was plunged into total darkness. 

Simultaneously, the Venezuelan military’s S-300 air defense systems were jammed by electronic warfare “Growler” aircraft, leaving the skies over the capital undefended.

Eyewitnesses in the nearby neighborhood of El Valle reported seeing “ghost-like” aircraft flying so low that the windows of residential towers rattled. 

These were the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, carrying the elite “Delta” teams toward their primary target.

2:00 AM – The “Seven Thunders”

At exactly 2:00 AM, seven massive explosions rocked the city. These were precision-guided munitions striking the command-and-control centers of the Venezuelan National Guard and the SEBIN intelligence headquarters. 

One strike specifically targeted the “Cuartel de la Montaña,” the mausoleum of Hugo Chávez, which functioned as a symbolic and tactical rallying point for Maduro’s loyalists.

Inside Fuerte Tiuna, the confusion was absolute. 

Maduro, reportedly awoken by the first blast, was shielded by his “Presidential Honor Guard”—a unit known to be heavily advised by Cuban intelligence.

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However, as CJ Global previously hinted in our secretive reports, the communication lines between the bunker and the outlying military bases had already been severed. 

Maduro was isolated before he even reached his command terminal.

2:15 AM – The Breaching of the Bunker

The final confrontation took place in a reinforced residence within the Fuerte Tiuna complex.

Ground-level footage obtained by CJ sources shows at least four MH-60 helicopters performing a “fast-rope” insertion directly onto the grounds of the Presidential villa.

Delta Force operators, utilizing night-vision and thermal imaging, breached the perimeter in under three minutes.

Sources close to the operation describe a “short but intense” fireflight with the Honor Guard.

Maduro, realizing that the “shield” provided by his Cuban advisors had evaporated, reportedly attempted to reach a secure telephone line to call the Russian Embassy. He was intercepted before the call could be placed.

The image of the President, seen later in a gray tracksuit and blindfolded, was the result of a “tactical extraction” that saw him and Cilia Flores led at gunpoint to a waiting helicopter under the cover of a smoke screen.

3:15 AM – The “State of Emergency” that Failed

By the time Vice President Delcy Rodríguez attempted to declare a National State of Emergency via a pre-recorded emergency broadcast system, the President was already over international waters.

The U.S. Air Force had effectively established a “no-fly zone” over the entire northern coast of Venezuela.

Maduro and Flores were transferred to the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship, where they were formally served with their U.S. federal indictments by DEA agents.

The final minutes were defined not by a heroic stand, but by a systemic failure of the Venezuelan chain of command.

The “Colectivos” and the 4.5 million-strong militia, so often touted by the regime, were unable to mobilize in time to stop a strike that moved faster than their communication networks.

The Aftermath: A City in Shock

As the sun rose over Caracas on the morning of January 3, the city awoke to a new and terrifying reality.

Miraflores Palace sat empty, La Carlota airbase was a smoking ruin, and the man who had ruled for over a decade was being flown toward a federal courtroom in New York.

The U.S. has announced it will “run” the country until a transition can be secured, but the scars of those forty minutes of fire and shadow will likely define Venezuelan politics for the next generation.

Headlines of the Final Hour:

 • Total Darkness: Cyber-strikes cut power to Fuerte Tiuna seconds before the raid.

 • The Honor Guard Collapse: Elite Delta Force overcomes Maduro’s security in a 15-minute ground assault.

 • The “Grey Tracksuit” Image: Maduro captured in civilian clothes while attempting to contact foreign allies.

 • No-Fly Zone: U.S. Navy assets seal the Venezuelan coast, preventing any aerial counter-attack.