What the US targeted in Venezuela: Communications, depots and missile systems

While carrying out its mission to detain Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a complex operation early Saturday, U.S. forces targeted a number of locations across northern Venezuela.  

Among the targets identified in an ABC News analysis were surface-to-air missile systems, communications antennas and at least two buildings that appeared to be depots.  Notably absent of any sign of military action was the Miraflores Palace – Venezuela’s presidential palace – in central Caracas.

As part of the analysis, ABC News reviewed videos and images of the strikes, pinpointed their locations, and matched them to satellite images to determine both what was targeted and the apparent impact of the strikes. 

The explosions in Venezuela were first reported around 2 a.m. local time Saturday. 

Along the Venezuelan coast of the Caribbean Sea, explosions were reported in the town of Higuerote and the port of La Guaira.   

At least two explosions took place at an airport in the town of Higuerote, where video showed a surface-to-air missile system, next to a damaged plane and airport building.  

ABC News contributor Steve Ganyard, a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and former fighter pilot, identified it as a Russian-supplied BUK system. An analysis of a European Space Agency satellite image shows a crater at the end of a runway, matching the location of the destroyed BUK system in the video.

Video from the port of La Guaira showed a large explosion, followed by billowing smoke, that occurred in the early hours of Saturday. It’s still unclear what was targeted there.

Further inland, around the capital of Caracas, ABC News identified five targets that were struck.  

At least one Russian-supplied BUK missile system was targeted and destroyed at a major airbase in the La Carlota Air Base in Caracas. 

In the far southeast of the city, in El Volcan, buildings that were part of a communications complex situated on top of a mountain were hit. Videos showed some of the buildings were destroyed. It’s unclear whether the antennas are currently functioning.

Gen. Dan Caine, the  chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Saturday morning briefing that the U.S. mission to apprehend Maduro involved more than 150 aircraft,  including fighter aircraft, bombers, surveillance aircraft, intelligence aircraft and helicopters. (Adding just a bit of background) 

The most concentrated strikes occurred around the large military complex at Fuerte Tiuna, where three separate targets were hit. 

Satellite images from data-satellite company Vantor showed that at least four buildings, in three separate locations, were destroyed.

An ABC News analysis of recent satellite imagery shows that one of the buildings targeted was used to house large vehicles. The explosion at that building completely destroyed it, and as of 11 a.m. local time Saturday, it was still billowing smoke, as seen on Vantor satellite images.

Two sets of buildings on either end of a remote road on the mountain ridge, leading to the Fuerte Tiuna complex, were also targeted early Saturday morning. 

One of the buildings, located on the northern side of the road, appears to be an entrance point to the Fuerte Tiuna complex, extending onto the roadway, with a nearby helicopter pad; ABC News analysis of archival imagery shows the road is closed to the public.

The other set of buildings, located in the southern section of the road, appeared to be destroyed as well, according to Satellite imagery ABC News obtained from Vantor.

On the road, between the two now-destroyed buildings, sits a large building on the mountain ridge overlooking the military complex. That building does not appear to have been targeted, and it features a partially covered driveway.