The US expected “significant resistance” from Venezuela’s air defense systems during the nighttime raid to capture the country’s former president, Nicolás Maduro, a newly released memo reveals.
The heavily redacted memorandum from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel sheds new light on the Trump administration’s planning efforts ahead of the early January military operation, including what opposition US forces might face from Venezuela’s military and what that meant for the helicopters carrying special operators into downtown Caracas to grab Maduro and his wife.
“It is expected that US forces will face significant resistance on the approach,” T. Elliot Gaiser, an assistant attorney general, wrote in the December 23 memo that was made public this week. “There are as many as 75 anti-aircraft battery sites along the approach route to Fort Tiuna,” Gaiser cited planning information provided by the Department of Defense.
Fort Tiuna, or Fuerte Tiuna, is a major military installation in the capital city, Caracas, that hosts defense ministries, critical commands, official residences, and other strategic infrastructure, and it is where Maduro was believed to be during the raid. The US heavily bombed the base, with satellite imagery showing widespread destruction at the site in the aftermath.
The DOJ memo also noted that Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, would likely be present at the base. It said that she is “known to be more aggressive and combative” than her husband.
More than 150 US warplanes participated in the American operation, named Operation Absolute Resolve, including fighter jets, bombers, and drones. Some of these aircraft carried out strikes against Venezuelan military targets, including surface-to-air missile systems, to clear a path for low-flying helicopters carrying the forces that apprehended Maduro and his wife.
The DOJ memo hinted at additional threats and noted that Venezuela possessed unspecified, due to the heavy redactions, “weapons” that “are capable of downing the helicopters carrying” the assault forces. It’s possible this is a reference to the Russian Igla man-portable air defense systems, shoulder-launched missiles designed to hit low-altitude targets, but it’s unclear.
Maduro said prior to the raid that Venezuela possessed thousands of Igla launchers.
Venezuela relied heavily on Russian-made systems for its air defense network — such as S-300 batteries, Buk systems, and S-125 Pechora launchers — and Chinese radars. These weapon systems are believed to have been older export variants, though still capable; however, reporting indicates that systems might have been offline or in storage at the time of the attack.
Though there had long been questions about the readiness of Venezuela’s air defense network, Pentagon planners still considered it necessary to neutralize it. “Before the assault force arrives at Fort Tiuna,” the memo said, aircraft “will serve as an escort and clear emplaced anti-aircraft batteries as needed.”
“Risks to the mission are significant. Success will depend on surprise,” the DOJ memo, which reviews the legality of the US raid, warned at the time.
Venezuela’s air defenses did not shoot down any US military aircraft during the raid; Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said shortly after the mission ended that the systems had been quickly dismantled by American forces.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later said it “seems those Russian air defenses didn’t quite work so well, did they?”
The newly released DOJ memo, which details how the US could present this as a law enforcement operation rather than an act of war, wrote that “in addition to the targets for pre-assault fire,” the Department of Defense “has identified three airfields that may be destroyed should it appear that fighters are being assembled there to intercept the assault force.”
“The airfields will not be struck otherwise as they are dual use for military and civilian purposes,” the memo adds. It was written more than a week before the raid, so it’s unclear whether US planning may have been tweaked in the days leading up to the mission.
Satellite imagery revealed damage at the Higuerote Airport on Venezuela’s northern coast, dozens of miles east of Caracas, after the raid. Photos from the tarmac showed a destroyed air defense system and a wrecked light aircraft.
Although the US didn’t appear to have faced the substantial resistance it expected, it still faced some during the raid. American forces stormed Maduro’s compound under heavy fire, and at some point, a helicopter took a hit, reportedly by gunfire, but it remained flyable.
A defense official said that seven US service members were wounded in the raid. “The fact that this extremely complex and grueling mission was successfully executed with so few injuries is a testament to the expertise of our joint warriors,” they added.
Venezuela and Cuba said dozens of their security personnel were killed during the raid.
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