Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were injured as U.S. special forces burst into the space where they were hiding during the audacious military raid to capture Maduro in Caracas, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter.
Maduro and his wife were either bruised or bleeding after apparently having bumped into the wall or the door of the safe room within their compound, according to the sources. Their injuries occurred before U.S. Delta forces came into contact with them, the sources said.
Maduro and Flores received a medical evaluation aboard the airplane that had transported them after it landed at Stewart Air National Guard Base north of New York City, according to a second person familiar with the matter.
U.S. forces reached the compound in Caracas at about 1 a.m. ET Saturday and breached the residence, taking the couple by surprise, according to Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
U.S. forces had tried to blast through large doors behind which the Maduros were hiding using so-called flash bangs, less-than-lethal explosive devices that create intense light and sound and are meant to be disorienting.
The injuries appeared to have occurred during or just before that moment, according to the U.S. official and the person familiar with the matter.
Flores was seen with bruises on her face after she first appeared in public following their capture.
She and Maduro appeared in federal court in New York on Monday on drug conspiracy charges and pleaded not guilty. Flores’ attorney told the judge she may have sustained fractured ribs and required further medical evaluation. Maduro’s attorney said Maduro had general health and medical issues and also needed care.
Maduro told the judge he had been kidnapped.
“I am a prisoner of war,” he said in Spanish.
Asked about the bruising, Flores’ attorney said: “Our client is in good spirits. We look forward to reviewing and challenging the evidence the government has.”
