US President Donald Trump said that a secret weapon he calls ‘discombobulator’ was crucial to the daring American operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.Speaking in an interview with New York Post, Trump said the classified device was used on 3rd January helicopter raid on Caracas, allowing US forces to arrest Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, without firing a shot or losing a single American life.
“The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Trump said, before confirming that the weapon was deployed during the operation. “I would love to.”
Havana Syndrome: How Venezuelan defence systems shut down and gunmen got mysteriously ill
According to Trump, the device rendered Venezuelan defence systems inoperable just as US helicopters moved in. Trump said Maduro’s forces were prepared to respond with advanced weaponry supplied by Russia and China but were unable to do so.“They never got their rockets off,” Trump said. “They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off. We came in, they pressed buttons and nothing worked. They were all set for us.”Trump’s remarks came in response to questions about recent reports that the Biden administration had previously purchased a pulsed energy device believed by some experts to be linked to the mysterious illness known as “Havana Syndrome.”Those reports were followed by accounts from Venezuela suggesting that Maduro’s armed guards were incapacitated during the raid. A person identifying himself as a member of Maduro’s security detail claimed that defensive systems abruptly shut down and that personnel experienced severe physical distress.“Suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation,” the individual said. “At one point, they launched something — I don’t know how to describe it. It was like a very intense sound wave. I felt like my head was exploding from the inside.”The witness claimed that several guards began bleeding from the nose and vomiting blood, collapsing to the ground and becoming unable to move. “We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon — or whatever it was,” he said.Maduro, 63, is now being held at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn, where he is awaiting trial on US charges related to narcoterrorism, drug trafficking, and weapons offences. His former vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, has since assumed the role of Venezuela’s interim leader.Trump said Washington has established a cooperative relationship with the new leadership in Caracas. “We have a great relationship with the new president,” he said. “She’s been terrific.”
