US strikes Venezuela: Maduro met Chinese envoy hours before being captured — watch

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro received a Chinese authorities typical astatine the statesmanlike palace successful Caracas connected Friday, hours earlier US President Donald Trump claimed Maduro had been captured pursuing American subject strikes.Maduro met Qiu Xiaoqi, peculiar typical of the Chinese govt connected Latin American affairs, astatine the Miraflores Palace.

"I had a pleasant gathering with Qiu Xiaoqi, Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping," Maduro said connected Telegram. "We reaffirmed our committedness to the strategical narration that is progressing and strengthening successful assorted areas for gathering a multipolar satellite of improvement and peace," arsenic per Anadolu Agency.The gathering came earlier Trump claimed Maduro, on with his wife, had been captured aft "large scale" onslaught and flown retired of the country.According to US officials cited by CBS News, elite Delta Force operators took Maduro into custody pursuing what President Donald Trump described arsenic a “large-scale strike” against Venezuela and its leadership. Trump aboriginal claimed that some Maduro and his woman were captured and flown retired of the country.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said their whereabouts were chartless and demanded “proof of life,” according to the Associated Press. The cognition coincided with overnight explosions successful Caracas, wherever residents reported aerial sirens, powerfulness outages and low-flying aircraft. Delta Force, the US Army’s premier peculiar missions unit, has antecedently led high-profile operations, including the 2019 raid that killed ISIS person Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the 2003 seizure of erstwhile Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during Operation Red Dawn.