After midnight sometime, Friday night, US bombed military sites in Caracas (and other cities, it seems). These were small, controlled explosions.
Among Venezuelans on SM, about 95% maybe were in favor. There were some dissenters, but actually most of those seemed to be Americans in America saying they didn't support this ('UN is sleeping').
In the morning, people woke to photos of Maduro wearing blacked out glasses and handcuffed (in front of body), wearing a capturee suit and holding a plastic bottle of water, aboard a US vessel with US soldiers guarding him.
Venezuelans seem to be basically 100% in favor of this. ‘Adelante Venezuela’. This is not surprising, as he has been the direct cause of suffering for many years, well beyond the amount of time you might say he still needed some time to make plans work out. For years, regular Venezuelans I know have hoped for this (or worse).
The attack and arrest was done swiftly. We still don't know the details. (Was the Caribbean attack a few years ago kind of a practice? I'm not sure why that comes to mind.)
But the attack and arrest were done at night, so there was the least disturbance, and little chance for forces to be mustered (and probably more people killed thereby). Americans didn't have time to respond. We don't know if Congress approved this.
The arrest was not done humiliatingly or dirtily. It was done soldierly. It was done publicly. They published appropriate photos right away, and the people everywhere can know what's going on. This is in marked contrast to the US government during Bin Laden, when no one trusted the government and the idea that they just moved Bin Laden to some island or something seems totally possible. Everything was secret, done in secret courts, carried out by secret forces.
I think the main feeling people might feel is jealousy. Trump's doing all the good things. Likely enough, no one even thought it was possible for America to do such a thing, just like it seemed impossible to get a peace deal in Israel.
The only caveat is the precedent. An America that thinks it can simply send it's military into any country and capture it's leader would be bound for misadventure. Trump may have a mind of his own and have no bosses to answer to, but it seems many US presidents aren't that way.
This will cheer the spirits of the miltiary corps. Enlistment will probably go up.
It is arguably a violation of the UN, but what is the UN for if it supports, basically, regimes like Maduro's?
All our law is not the highest law. Almost none of our illegal actions are absolute, such that in some cases they're not the appropriate or favored course.
So there are points on both sides of the ledger, but overall it doesn't seem too bad and will at least make life better for millions of people in Venezuela.
People also commented on how Xi would be taking note of how effective the US was at going into a country and grabbing a leader. But Shanghai is pretty different, and the Chinese are extremely proud of their country and support their government, as much as a citizens are known to do in our era. Some said Xi would be less likely to grab Taiwan but I feel like it's actually more likely. US is already on the way to not needing Taiwan for chips, Russia took it's land and peace talks are in the process of consolidating the annexation.
Nigerian leaders, however, probably aren't going to be sleeping so well.
US said they'd stay in Venezuela for a while to control things. US just had the Nobel prize given to Machado so it seems likely they'll install her.
Looks like Venezuela will have a year of quickly reinstalled facilities for oil and gas production and distribution, and maybe other projects. Will Venezuela stocks go crazy on Monday?