In August, a clandestine team of C.I.A. officers slipped into Venezuela with a plan to collect information on Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president, whom the Trump administration had labeled a narco-terrorist.

去年8月，一支中情局秘密行动小组悄然潜入委内瑞拉，执行一项收集该国总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗情报的计划。特朗普政府此前将马杜罗认定为毒品恐怖分子。

The C.I.A. team moved about Caracas, remaining undetected for months while it was in the country. The intelligence gathered about the Venezuelan leader’s daily movements — combined with a human source close to Mr. Maduro and a fleet of stealth drones flying secretly above — enabled the agency to map out minute details about his routines.

这支中情局小组在加拉加斯一带行动，在委内瑞拉境内数月一直未被发现。他们收集到的有关这位委内瑞拉领导人日常行踪的情报——加上一名马杜罗身边的线人，以及秘密盘旋在上空的隐形无人机群——使中情局得以勾勒出他日常行程的详细图景。

It was a highly dangerous mission. With the U.S. embassy closed, the C.I.A. officers could not operate under the cloak of diplomatic cover. But it was highly successful. Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference that because of the intelligence gathered by the team, the United States knew where Mr. Maduro moved, what he ate and even what pets he kept.

这是一项极其危险的任务。由于美国驻委内瑞拉大使馆关闭，中情局官员无法以外交身份作掩护。但这项任务取得了巨大成功。参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩上将在新闻发布会上表示，正是由于该小组收集到的情报，美国才得以掌握马杜罗的行动路线、饮食习惯，甚至连他养了什么宠物都一清二楚。

That information was critical to the ensuing military operation, a pre-dawn raid Saturday by elite Army Delta Force commandos, the riskiest U.S. military operation of its kind since members of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 killed Osama bin Laden in a safe house in Pakistan in 2011.

这些信息对随后展开的军事行动至关重要。周六拂晓前，陆军精锐力量三角洲部队实施了突袭，这是自2011年海军海豹突击队第六分队在巴基斯坦一处安全屋击毙奥萨马·本·拉登以来，美国同类军事行动中风险最高的一次。

The result was a tactically precise and swiftly executed operation that extracted Mr. Maduro from his country with no loss of American life, a result heralded by President Trump amid larger questions about the legality and rationale for the U.S. actions in Venezuela.

最终，行动战术精准、执行迅速，成功将马杜罗从委内瑞拉带走，且没有美方人员丧生。唐纳德·特朗普总统对这一结果大为赞赏，尽管外界对美国在委内瑞拉行动的合法性和合理性提出了诸多质疑。

Mr. Trump has justified what was named Operation Absolute Resolve as a strike against drug trafficking. But Venezuela is hardly as big a player in the international drug trade as other countries. Officials had previously told congressional leaders that their objective in Venezuela was not regime change. And Mr. Trump has long said he opposes U.S. foreign occupations.

特朗普辩称此次代号为“绝对决心行动”的军事行动是对毒品贩运的打击。但委内瑞拉在国际毒品贸易中的影响远不及其他国家。此前，官员们曾向国会领导人表示，美国在委内瑞拉的目标并非政权更迭。而特朗普本人也长期宣称反对美国在海外的占领行动。

Yet on Saturday, the president proclaimed that American officials were in charge of Venezuela, and that the United States would rebuild the country’s oil infrastructure.

然而就在周六，总统却宣称美国官员已经接管了委内瑞拉，并表示美国将重建该国的石油基础设施。

In contrast to messy U.S. interventions of the past — by the military in Panama or the C.I.A. in Cuba — the operation to grab Mr. Maduro was virtually flawless, according to multiple officials familiar with the details, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the plans.

多名熟悉行动细节的官员表示，与美国过去一些混乱的干预行动（如美军在巴拿马的行动，以及中情局在古巴的行动）相比，此次抓捕马杜罗的行动堪称完美。为了方便披露相关计划，其中一些官员要求匿名。

In the run-up, Delta Force commandos rehearsed the extraction inside a full-scale model of Mr. Maduro’s compound that the Joint Special Operations Command had built in Kentucky. They practiced blowing through steel doors at ever-faster paces.

在行动准备阶段，三角洲部队突击队员在肯塔基州一处由联合特种作战司令部搭建、按马杜罗住所一比一复制的模型内进行演练。他们不断练习以越来越快的速度炸开钢制大门。

The military had been readying for days to execute the mission, waiting for good weather conditions and a time when the risk of civilian casualties would be minimized.

军方为执行任务准备多日，等待天气条件适宜且平民伤亡风险最小化的时机。

Amid the heightened tensions, Mr. Maduro had been rotating between six and eight locations, and the United States did not always learn where he intended to stay until late in the evenings. To execute the operation, the U.S. military needed confirmation that Mr. Maduro was at the compound they had trained to attack.

在局势高度紧张的情况下，马杜罗频繁在六到八处地点来回换地方，美方往往要到深夜才能掌握他当天住在哪里。要执行此次行动，美军必须确认马杜罗在他们事先演练过的那处攻击目标设施内。

There was likely little doubt in the Venezuelan government that the United States was coming. But the military took pains to maintain so-called tactical surprise, like it did with its operation over the summer to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.

委内瑞拉政府很可能知道美国即将采取行动。但美军仍然竭力保持所谓的战术突袭，就像今年夏天摧毁伊朗核设施的行动一样。

Mr. Trump had authorized the U.S. military to go ahead as early as Dec. 25, but left the precise timing to Pentagon officials and Special Operations planners to ensure that the attacking force was ready, and that conditions on the ground were optimal.

特朗普早在12月25日就已授权美军推进这项行动，但将具体时间交由五角大楼官员和特种作战计划人员决定，以确保攻击部队做好准备，且地面条件达到最佳。

The operation officially got underway around 4:30 p.m. on Friday, when U.S. officials gave the first set of approvals to launch certain assets into the air. But that did not mean the full mission would be authorized. For the next six hours, officials continued to monitor the conditions on the ground, including the weather and Mr. Maduro’s whereabouts.

行动在周五下午约4点30分正式启动，当时美国官员批准了第一批空中部署。但这并不意味着整个任务都会获得授权。在接下来的六个小时里，官员们持续监控地面情况，包括天气状况以及马杜罗的行踪。

Mr. Trump spent the evening on the patio at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club, where he had dinner with aides and cabinet secretaries. The president’s aides told him that they would be calling him later that evening, around 10:30 p.m., for the final approval. Mr. Trump did so by phone, then joined his senior national security officials in a secure location on the property.

当晚，特朗普在其位于佛罗里达州的马阿拉歌庄园露台上与助手和内阁部长共进晚餐。总统的助手告诉他，他们将在当晚约10点30分再次致电，请他作出最终批准。特朗普随后通过电话批准行动，并在庄园内的一处安全地点与高级国家安全官员会合。

Inside Venezuela, the effort began with a cyberoperation that cut power to large swaths of Caracas, shrouding the city in darkness to allow the planes, drones and helicopters to approach undetected.

在委内瑞拉，行动以一次网络攻击拉开序幕，大范围切断了加拉加斯的电力供应，使整座城市陷入黑暗，从而让飞机、无人机和直升机得以在不被察觉的情况下接近目标。

More than 150 military aircraft, including drones, fighter planes and bombers, took part in the mission, taking off from 20 different military bases and Navy ships.

包括无人机、战斗机和轰炸机在内的150多架军用飞机参与了此次行动，这些飞机从20个不同的军事基地和海军舰艇上起飞。

As the aircraft advanced on Caracas, military and intelligence agencies determined that they had maintained tactical surprise: Mr. Maduro had not been warned that the operation was coming.

当这些飞行器向加拉加斯推进时，军方和情报机构确认他们成功保持了战术突袭性：马杜罗并未收到有关行动即将展开的预警。

Early Saturday morning, thunderous explosions boomed across Caracas as U.S. warplanes struck at radar and air defense batteries. While some of the explosions posted on social media looked dramatic, a U.S. official said that they were mostly radar installations and radio transmission towers being taken out.

周六凌晨，美军战机袭击了加拉加斯的雷达站和防空阵地，雷鸣般的爆炸声响彻云霄。尽管社交媒体上流传的一些爆炸画面看起来很震撼，但一位美国官员表示，被摧毁的大多是雷达设施和无线电发射塔。

At least 40 people were killed in Saturday’s attack on Venezuela, including military personnel and civilians, according to a senior Venezuelan official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe preliminary reports.

一名要求匿名的委内瑞拉高级官员在描述初步情况时表示，周六的袭击造成至少40人死亡，包括军方人员和平民。

Later, General Caine told reporters that the fighter planes, bombers and drones came into Venezuela to find and destroy the country’s air defenses, to clear a safe pathway for the helicopters carrying Special Operations forces.

后来，凯恩将军告诉记者，战斗机、轰炸机和无人机进入委内瑞拉的任务是搜寻并摧毁该国的防空系统，为搭载特种作战部队的直升机开辟安全通道。

Even though Venezuelan air defenses were suppressed, the U.S. helicopters came under fire as they moved in on Mr. Maduro’s compound at about 2:01 a.m. local time. General Caine said the helicopters responded with “overwhelming force.”

尽管委内瑞拉的防空系统已被压制，但美军直升机在当地时间凌晨2点01分左右接近马杜罗的住所时，仍遭到火力攻击。凯恩将军表示，直升机以“压倒性的火力”进行了还击。

One of the helicopters was hit. Two U.S. officials said that about half a dozen soldiers were injured in the overall operation.

其中一架直升机被击中。两名美国官员称，整个行动中约有六名士兵受伤。

The Delta Force operators assigned to capture Mr. Maduro were whisked to their target — on Venezuela’s most fortified military base — by an elite Army Special Operations aviation unit, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which flies modified MH-60 and MH-47 helicopters.

负责抓捕马杜罗的三角洲部队人员被一支精锐的陆军特种作战航空部队（第160特种作战航空团）使用改装过的MH-60和MH-47直升机迅速送抵目标地点——委内瑞拉戒备最森严的军事基地。

Once on the ground, Delta Force moved quickly through the building to find Mr. Maduro. About 1,300 miles away, in a room inside Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump and key aides watched the raid play out in real time, courtesy of a camera positioned on an aircraft overhead.

三角洲部队一落地便迅速在建筑内展开搜索，寻找马杜罗。与此同时，在2000多公里外的马阿拉歌庄园一个房间里，特朗普与其核心助手通过架设在空中飞行器上的摄像头实时观看了突袭全过程。

As the president monitored the raid from Florida, the Delta Force operators used an explosive to enter the building.

总统在佛罗里达州监控行动时，三角洲部队使用爆炸装置进入了建筑。

The U.S. official said that the Special Operations forces took three minutes after blowing open the door to move through the building to Mr. Maduro’s location.

美国官员表示，特种作战部队在炸开大门后，仅用了三分钟便穿越建筑到达马杜罗所在的位置。

Mr. Trump said that once the Special Operations forces made it through the compound to Mr. Maduro’s room, the Venezuelan leader and his wife tried to escape into a steel-reinforced room, but were stopped by the U.S. forces.

特朗普表示，当特种作战部队进入马杜罗房间时，这位委内瑞拉领导人及其妻子试图逃入一间钢筋加固的安全室，但被美军拦下。

“He was trying to get to a safe place,” Mr. Trump said during the news conference with General Caine, adding: “It was a very thick door, a very heavy door. But he was unable to get to that door. He made it to the door, he was unable to close it.”

“他想去一个安全的地方，”特朗普在与凯恩将军共同举行的新闻发布会上说。“那是一扇非常厚、非常重的门。但他没能进去。他到了门口，却没能把门关上。”

About five minutes after entering the building, Delta Force reported that they had Mr. Maduro in custody.

在进入建筑大约五分钟后，三角洲部队报告称，马杜罗已被抓捕。