US attack on Venezuela: Death toll rises to 80 civilians and military personnel Submitted by MEE staff on Sun, 01/04/2026 - 22:54 Trump says Rodriguez could “pay a very big price" if she continued to refuse cooperation with the US A woman shows a painting depicting ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a demonstration by supporters in Caracas on 4 January 2026. AFP Off The death count from the US attack on Venezuela has risen to 80, between civilians and members of security forces, according to a senior Venezuelan official who said the number could rise further, the New York Times reported . US special forces seized Venezuela's now-ousted President Nicolas Maduro from the capital, Caracas, early on Saturday, as American fighter jets bombed key military installations and bases across the country. Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez said the US seizure of Nicolas Maduro had "Zionist undertones". Rodriguez, who served as Maduro's vice-president, has been decreed by the Supreme Court to lead the country on an interim basis. Speaking in a televised address on Saturday, Rodriguez said: "Governments around the world are shocked that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has become the victim and target of an attack of this nature, which undoubtedly has Zionist undertones." She added: "The extremists who have promoted armed aggression against our country - history and justice will make them pay." Reacting to the statement, Trump threatened that Rodriguez could “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro," if she continued to refuse cooperation with the United States. Earlier on Saturday morning, Trump had said that Rodríguez would act as a partner in letting the United States "run" Venezuela. A day after the attack, crowds of pro-government supporters marched through the streets of Caracas. ⁠⁠ Demonstrators waved Venezuelan flags and called for national unity in the face of what they described as foreign aggression. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Middle East Eye (@middleeasteye) The US assault was condemned by most South American countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Chile. Many European countries welcomed Maduro's removal, but some raised questions about the legality of the US operation. "Spain did not recognise the Maduro regime. But neither will it recognise an intervention that violates international law and pushes the region towards a horizon of uncertainty and belligerence," Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said. US Democratic lawmakers also criticised the attack as "illegal". After the capture of Maduro, promising that American companies would be able to tap more of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, Trump told reporters: “We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.” In 2023, during a speech at the North Carolina Republican Convention, Trump had made similar comments. “We would have gotten all that oil. It would have been right next door,” he said. With 303 billion barrels worth of crude oil, accounting for 17 per cent of global reserves, Venezuela has one of the largest known reserves in the world, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The country has more crude than Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and more than three times the reserves of the United States. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said that the US planned to apply pressure on the country’s oil industry to coerce government leaders there to accede to American demands. In a video interview with NBC, Rubio said that Venezuela had become “the operating hub for Iran, for Russia, for Hezbollah, for China,” a concentration of adversarial power he said the US would no longer tolerate in its own hemisphere. Rubio said the US administration’s response is an oil “quarantine” enforced by US naval and Coast Guard assets, and that the US will not allow Venezuela's oil industry to be "controlled by adversaries" such as China and Russia. He said that the US intends to block these nations from extracting resources in the western hemisphere. “We go to court, we get a warrant, we seize the boats,” he said. “That’s tremendous leverage – incredible, crippling leverage – which we intend to continue to use until we see the changes that we need to see.” China is Venezuela’s primary oil customer, receiving the vast majority of its exports. In 2025, Venezuela exported close to 80 per cent of its total exports to China. Maduro had met with a special delegation sent by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Miraflores Presidential Palace hours before the airstrike. Russia has provided billions in loans and technical support to maintain Venezuela's oil infrastructure in exchange for a strategic foothold in the region. Both Russia and China condemned the US attack on Venezuela. US Attacks News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0