Venezuelan Guard Says 20 U.S. Troops Used a Sound Weapon That Left Defenders Bleeding
In an unverified account amplified by the White House, he describes nosebleeds, vomiting blood, and collapse as a tiny American force overran hundreds.
New York Post · US used powerful mystery weapon that brought Venezuelan soldiers to their knees during Maduro raid: witness accountThe guard was on duty when the screens went dark. All of his unit's radar systems shut down without explanation, and then the sky filled with drones.
What came next, in his telling, was brief and one sided. About eight helicopters landed, he said, letting out what he estimated were only 20 American troops. They looked, he recalled, technologically advanced and unlike anything his forces had fought before.
His account is the most vivid description to emerge from the Jan. 3 U.S. raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and it remains unverified. It was posted Saturday on X by Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, and it describes a small American force killing hundreds of defenders without suffering a casualty. Venezuela's Interior Ministry has estimated its own losses at 100 security forces killed.
The guard said his side, numbering in the hundreds, had no chance against American fire that seemed impossibly fast and precise. "They were shooting with such precision and speed; it felt like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute," the guard said.
What happened next still haunts him, he said. The Americans launched something he said he could not properly describe. "It was like a very intense sound wave," the guard said. "Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside."
"We all started bleeding from the nose," he said. "Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move."
He said they could not even stand after "that sonic weapon, or whatever it was." "Those 20 men, without a single casualty, killed hundreds of us," he said. "We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons."
It is unclear whether any of the reported deaths were caused by the purported weapon rather than conventional gunfire. The White House did not say whether Leavitt's decision to share the account meant the administration considered it accurate.
The guard closed with a warning born of defeat. He said he never wanted to face American forces again, and that no one else should want to learn what his unit went through on the ground that night.
Questions people ask
Does the U.S. actually have sonic or directed-energy weapons?
The U.S. military has publicly described nonlethal acoustic devices that emit loud warnings or painful tones to disperse crowds, and researchers have studied more powerful directed-energy systems using microwaves or lasers. An ex-U.S. intelligence source said America has had versions for decades, but there has been no confirmed U.S. combat use of a weapon that causes mass nosebleeds and collapse.
Can sound alone make people bleed and collapse?
Very loud sound can cause pain, disorientation, nausea, and damage to hearing, and some researchers have linked intense acoustic exposure to broader physiological stress. Vomiting blood and prolonged inability to stand are not typical documented effects of public acoustic weapons, which is one reason specialists treat this particular claim with caution.
What happened to Nicolas Maduro after the raid?
U.S. officials have said Maduro was seized in the Jan. 3 operation and brought to the United States to face criminal charges. His capture removed him from power in Caracas and set off a political transition whose outcome is still taking shape.