Venezuela President Maduro’s constant ‘public dancing’ prompted Washington to capture him: Report

It was Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s constant public dancing that finally prompted the US administration to capture him, stated a report in New York Times. Maduro had rejected an ultimatum from Trump to leave office and assume exile in Turkey, it stated.

Then this week Maduro was captured brushing off the latest US escalation – a strike on a dock that Washington said was used for drug trafficking – by dancing to an electronic beat on state television. “No crazy war” played repeatedly in English in Maduro’s voice as he danced.

His regular dancing was seen by Washington as a display of nonchalance, which eventually helped Trump’s team persuade the president that Maduro was mocking them and calling their threats a bluff. The report quoted people who said this prompted the White House to follow up on its threats.

The US military swooped into the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Saturday and captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. They were then brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges. This came after the US had already decided on Maduro’s replacement a week ago – Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.

Trump’s team believes that Rodríguez would protect and champion American energy investments in the country, and that they would be able to work with her in a “much more professional level” than they were with Maduro, the report added.

The US President wrote off Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2025, who he said lacked the “respect” to govern Venezuela.

Despite Rodríguez’s public condemnation of Maduro’s capture, US officials said their relationship with her would be based on her ability to play by their rules. Trump declared that the US was in charge of Venezuela and that if the Venezuelan leaders do not behave, Washington would carry out a second strike.