A few minutes before 2:00 am, when almost the entire country was asleep, the inhabitants of the states of La Guaira, Caracas and Miranda were surprised by the dull hum of an unprecedented US military operation, whose objective was the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, and destroying strategic civil and military installations.
American soldiers entered the country in a dozen Chinook, Black Hawk and Little Bird helicopters, which flew directly to Fuerte Tiuna, to the residence of President Maduro, after entering through Hoyo de la Puerta.
Simultaneously, an air contingent of more than 150 aircraft, including B-1 bombers, F-22, F-35 and F-18 fighters, intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft, as well as numerous remotely piloted drones participated in the mission, which sowed death and destruction in a country not accustomed to these actions of extreme violence.
The attack focused on military installations, mainly at Fuerte Tiuna, La Carlota Air Base, the Militia Command, the Mamo Plateau, Fort Guaicaipuro and a radar base in El Junquito.
The first military action suffered by the country in its history also targeted telecommunications systems with two attacks on the antenna facilities located on Cerro el Volcán, in El Hatillo, which severely affected internet, telephone, open signal and radio communications services.
Two other missiles detonated against the antennas of the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (Ivic), which caused the total destruction of the Mathematics Center facilities that housed servers and essential equipment for computer networks. In addition, four other centers: Physics, Chemistry, Ecology and Nuclear Technology, were affected by the detonations.
The US forces also cut off the power supply to Caracas during the early hours of the morning to carry out the mission in the dark, taking advantage of the so-called wolf moon, a supermoon that allows more nighttime visibility for pilots.
The Ministry of Electric Energy detailed that the explosions seriously affected the Panamericana 69 Kv and Escuela Militar 4.8 kV substations, leaving the OAM-Vega Caricuao-Panamericana 1 and 2 69 kV, and Junquito-Panamericana 1 and 2 69 KV lines out of service.
Other objectives were the Oscar Machado Zuloaga Airport (known as Caracas airport) located in Charallave and the Higuerote airport, as well as the Port of La Guaira and the Lieutenant Colonel Eliécer Otaiza Special Forces Specialization Complex, located in Carmen de Uria, La Guaira state.
One hundred dead and the same number of injured
More than a hundred deaths among military and civilians and the same number of injuries were caused by the United States attacks in the country in the early hours of Saturday, January 3, Venezuelan authorities have confirmed to date.
The highest casualties were recorded in Fuerte Tiuna, among them 19 members of the Presidential Honor Guard and 32 Cuban soldiers who belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior who were in Venezuelan territory within the framework of bilateral cooperation in matters of security and defense.
The Army confirmed the death of 24 of its members and two of the Military Aviation. For its part, the Bolivarian Militia reported the murder of SM3 José Salvador Rodríguez Ramírez, at the headquarters of the General Command, on January 23, while operating a Russian portable anti-aircraft missile system Igla-S (SA-24 Grinch).
Five soldiers lost their lives in the attacks on Fort Guaicaipuro, located in the state of Miranda. At the Caracas distributor, adjacent to the entrance to the Oscar Machado Zuloaga airport, in Charallave, two men traveling in a white Arauca car were burned to death by an explosive.
Two other soldiers died on the Mamo Plateau, in La Guaira, where the Simón Bolívar Marine Infantry Battalion and the 393rd Rear Admiral José María García Anti-Aircraft Defense Missile Group are located.
In the La Soublette sector, in the Catia La Mar parish, of the coastal entity, 80-year-old Rosa González died, after the explosion of a missile in her home projected her and her two brothers against a wall inside the residence.
Another of the civilian victims was identified as Yohana Rodríguez Sierra, a 45-year-old woman from Cartagena, who had lived in the country for more than 12 years after a missile hit the municipality of El Hatillo, Miranda state, where the El Volcán antennas are located. Another projectile landed in the patio of the Berti family residence, who was unharmed.
