Trump will award the highest military recognition to one of the 'warriors' who participated in Maduro's capture
The president advanced the decoration in dialogue with journalists at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he gave a speech before members of the Army and family members.
Man holds an image of Nicolas Maduro in Lima, Peru/ Ernesto Benavides.
Donald Trump will award one of the military officers who participated in the capture of Nicolás Maduro. The capture of the then dictator of Venezuela took place last January 3 in the city of Caracas, and the operation was dubbed 'Absolute Resolution.' The president advanced the decoration in a dialogue with journalists in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he gave a speech before members of the Army and family members.
During his speech in North Carolina, where some of the protagonists of Operation Absolute Resolution were present, he highlighted his ability to execute. That day, the balance was zero U.S. casualties and no equipment down or shot down. On the other side, 55 military casualties were confirmed: 32 Cubans and 23 Venezuelans.
"Last month, we demonstrated this truth once again when some of our best soldiers, frankly, successfully captured Venezuela's illegal dictator, Nicolas Maduro, and brought him back to face U.S. justice, where he now lies in wait. And it was an incredible night. People saw it. They had never seen anything like it. You know, it's quite a military country. It was a big base, one of the biggest in South America, where he lived. And within minutes he was in a helicopter taking him out of there," Trump said.
">.@POTUS at Fort Bragg: "My message to all of the warriors here today is that your Commander-in-Chief supports you totally... We're going to continue to make our country bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and that's exactly where we are right now." pic.twitter.com/1L6bhfJWpo
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 13, 2026
Leaving the event, the president spoke to reporters and talked about decorating at least one of the military personnel who participated in the operation that ended with Maduro's capture.
"We're going to be giving one particular person the Congressional Medal of honor for what just took place in Venezuela. And met a lot of people right now. We've been there for quite a while, and it was beautiful. These are great warriors. These are great patriots, and they're in very good shape" he told reporters Friday.
The event was also attended by first lady Melania Trump, the eventual Republican Senate nominee in the state, Michael Whatley, and congressman and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chairman Richard Hudson.
">.@POTUS: "We had a great visit at Fort Bragg. We saw a lot of heroes... We're going to be giving one particular person the Congressional Medal of Honor for what just took place in Venezuela... These are great warriors. These are great Patriots." pic.twitter.com/gsXwlvEoHr
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 13, 2026
What is the Congressional Medal of Honor?
To date, 3547 people have received the award, of whom 61 are still alive. Although the person in charge of delivering it is the president, in this case Donald Trump, it is delivered in Congress, which is why it bears his name.
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