US intelligence agents had been secretly monitoring leftist Maduro’s every movement since August, despite his widely reported efforts to regularly change locations as tensions mounted with Washington.

US forces conducted a large-scale strike in Venezuela, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, following pre-dawn attacks on Caracas. Maduro faces terrorism and drug charges in New York, with the US accusing him of leading a narco-terrorist organization. The operation’s legality is debated, with experts citing potential violations of international law.

The BRS MLAs were absent from the Assembly. They announced a boycott of the ongoing winter session in protest against what it has termed the Speaker’s “biased” conduct.