The U.S. captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro early Saturday in an extraordinary military operation to end the repressive regime of the “fugitive” leader, and usher a “new dawn” of freedom to the embattled nation.

Some 150 aircraft took part in Operation Absolute Resolve, which came after months of mounting pressure by the Trump administration and lasted just under two and half hours.

Pinpoint strikes at 2 a.m. around the capital city of Caracas targeted the Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base, Port La Guaira, Higuerote Airport and Fuerte Tiuna, sending plumes of smoke and fire into the night air.

Maduro, 63, and wife Cilia Flores, 69, were seized just steps from the steel doors of his high-security Ft Tiuna military compound, which President Trump said US troops were able to blast through “a matter of seconds.”

“Maduro was the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States,” Trump said at a late morning press conference.

“Maduro and his wife will soon face the full might of American justice and stand trial on American soil. Now, Maduro will never again be able to threaten an American citizen or anybody from Venezuela.”

The US will run the embattled nation until a transition government is in place, “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he added.

While Trump said no American troops were killed, officials from the South American nation said at least 40 Venezuelans were killed in the strike, including soldiers and civilians, according to the New York Times.

One strike hit a three-story apartment complex in Catia La Mar, a low-income coastal town west of the Caracas airport around 2 a.m., killing 80-year-old Rosa Gonzalez, her family told the outlet.

Maduro and his wife arrived on US soil at Stewart Air National Guard base in Newburgh, NY, just after 4:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon, roughly 12 hours after they was taken into custody by joint US military.

They face a litany of drug trafficking charges and face the “full wrath of American justice,” after months of increasing tension between the US and Venezuela. The couple could be in court as early as Monday.

Also on Saturday:

Maduro was brought to New York City Saturday night, where he will be held in Brooklyn to await trial.

He arrived by helicopter around 7 p.m. and was taken to DEA headquarters in Chelsea — and oddly wished federal agents a “Happy New Year,” his first words since the capture, according to video released by the White House in a post on X captioned “perp walk.”

The toppled tyrant — sporting black sweats, a black hat and jail-issued flip flops — also said “good night” as he was hauled out of the federal building. He was then taken by helicopter past the Statue of Liberty to the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he was met by a large boisterous crowd celebrating his capture.

“I will never forget this day,” 27-year-old Venezuelan Jesus Rodriguez told The Post.

“I came to see Maduro get punished for all the bad things he’s done for my country. I feel grateful for what Donald Trump did today for our country. I want to go back to be with my family. Now there is hope.”

The sprawling indictment accuses Maduro of leading “a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, leveraging government power to protect and promoting illegal activity, including drug trafficking.”

Maduro allegedly partnered with “some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world” to bring as much as 250 tons of cocaine into the US by 2020 via go-fast vessels, fishing boats and container ships or via planes from clandestine airstrips, according to the indictment.

In the hours after the airstrikes, Trump said his administration was “making the decision” for who would govern Venezuela.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort as he provided new details on the stunning military operation.

“We’re going to run it, essentially” through the transition, he said.

Earlier in the day, the president said the US guidance would be to prevent another dictator from “[taking] over where he left.”

Maduro’s Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez, has since taken the oath of office, per the country’s law, and has pledged to Trump that she would act as Washington requires.

Follow The Post’s live coverage of Nicolás Maduro’s NYC court appearance following his capture

Trump told The Post Saturday that US troops won’t be stationed in Venezuela so long as Rodríguez “does what we want.”

Rodriguez reportedly fled to Russia, but the country’s foreign ministry denied she was there and she later gave a press briefing from Caracas.

Shortly after taking office, the new president demanded that the US immediately release Maduro and his wife.

Experts, however, theorize that Machado and her movement would be best poised for the takeover — a move Trump rejected, claiming she “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country” to become its next leader.

The US previously recognized Edmundo González, who remains exiled in Spain, as Venezuela’s legitimate leader after he defeated Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin in the 2024 election.

González ran in place of Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado after she was banned from running by the Maduro-run high court. Maduro ignored the election results and remained in power.

In a celebratory statement Saturday, Machado said she and González are vying to “immediately” lead the transitional government in the South American country.

“Today we are prepared to enforce our mandate and take power,” Machado said in her first public comments Saturday.

“We are going to restore order, release the political prisoners, build an exceptional country, and bring our children back home.”

Machado emphasized that the country’s “hour of freedom has arrived,” saying that “the time has come for popular sovereignty and national sovereignty to govern our country. We will restore order, free the political prisoners, build an exceptional country, and bring our children back home.”

“We have fought for years, we have given everything, and it has been worth it. What had to happen is happening.”

Hours before the strikes, Trump was hosting a party at Mar-a-Lago with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

“He was having a blast,” a source who was at the party told The Post, adding that the president was spinning Aerosmith and Rolling Stones songs from his iPad.

The Federal Aviation Administration banned US commercial flights over Venezuela early Saturday because of “ongoing military activity. The US Embassy in Caracas advised Americans not to travel to Venezuela and urged those in the country to leave.

The Venezuelan government denounced the attack as an aggression from the US and a violation of the United Nations charter.

“The objective of this attack is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, attempting to forcibly break the nation’s political independence,” the government said in a statement.

“They will not succeed. After more than two hundred years of independence, the people and their legitimate government remain steadfast in defense of sovereignty and the inalienable right to determine their own destiny.”

The Venezuelan government also declared a state of emergency and “ordered all national defense plans to be implemented.”

“Today, with the spirit of Bolivar, Miranda, and our liberators, the Venezuelan people rise up once again to defend their independence against imperial aggression. People, take to the streets!” the government’s statement read.

One resident told The Post that the country has been plunged into chaos, with Maduro’s supporters rioting in the streets and residents flooding supermarkets to grab dwindling supplies.

“The nightmare isn’t over yet. The figurehead is gone. But his supporters are still here,” one man living in Valencia told The Post, declining to reveal his identity: “I’m afraid that if I say anything and give my name, I’ll be arrested.”

“People are very scared. “

In a video address that aired on Thursday, Maduro accused the US of wanting to force a government change in the South American country and access its oil reserves.

On Friday, Maduro met with a special envoy for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the presidential palace in Caracas to reaffirm ties with China amid tensions with the US.

That same day, Maduro claimed his regime was “ready” to discuss an agreement with the US to prevent drug trafficking.

“The US government knows, because we’ve told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we’re ready,” the left-wing authoritarian told Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet in a sitdown recorded on New Year’s Eve and broadcast on state TV Thursday.

Several world leaders condemned the US’s military strike, with Colombian President Gustavo Petro demanding a meeting between the Organization of American States and the United Nations.

“Right now they are bombing Caracas. Alert to the whole world, they have attacked Venezuela,” Petro wrote on X. “They are bombing with missiles. The OAS and the UN must meet immediately.”

Cuban officials called the strikes “criminal activity by the US.

The US military has carried out drone strikes off the Venezuelan coast on suspect drug smuggling boats.

Maduro’s call for talks comes a week after a CIA drone strike on a docking area believed to be used by cartels.

Venezuela had detained at least five Americans following the Trump administration’s latest military and economic pressure campaign.

With Post wires