Arrested Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, bonked their heads on a low door frame while trying to evade capture by US special forces, Trump administration officials told top lawmakers at a Monday briefing.
A source familiar with the briefing told The Post that the criminal Caracas couple suffered “minor injuries related to their own actions” during the early Saturday raid, adding that Flores began cursing in Spanish after she hurt herself.
The mishap was first reported by CNN, which said Maduro and Flores attempted to take cover behind a heavy steel door in their fortified compound, but misjudged the height of the frame.
Both were given first aid by members of the Delta Force after they had been safely extracted.
The couple made their first apperance in Manhattan federal court Monday on drug trafficking and weapons charges.
An attorney for Flores told presiding Judge Alvin Hellerstein that his client “sustained significant injuries” during her arrest, adding that “she may have a fracture or a severe bruising on her ribs” and requesting a physical exam and X-ray.
Courtroom sketches of the proceedings showed Flores with bandages on her head.
Cuban officials claimed earlier this week that 32 of Havana’s military and police officers working in Venezuela were killed in the raid.
On Tuesday, officials in Caracas announced that at least 24 Venezuelan security officers were killed, while the Pentagon said seven US service members suffered minor injuries.
Five of those service members have already returned to duty, while two are still recovering from their wounds.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Attorney General Pam Bondi and CIA Director John Ratcliffe briefed Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate — as well as the heads of each chamber’s intelligence, armed services and foreign affairs committees — for more than two hours Monday evening.
With Post wires
