Most likely, some contact with Venezuelan military guys that revealed where he was. If the latest is true, that the US Administration declared that no futher action will be done in Venezuela, I can foresee that this will be not like Panama.
It will be more like meet the new boss, same as the new boss, with the difference that Russia and China will be less involved.
Trump is like the gangsters of old, he will not care about who is ruling as long as he gets a piece of the action. And I do think that if the new rulers in Venezuela helped with info, the US admin will help the new Viceroy president of Venezuela.
The Nobel and FIFA Peace Prize winners are working hand in hand to place a new US friendly regime I am sure.
Yep, the NYT is reporting a CIA asset in the government had been monitoring Maduro’s movements recently and passing on the information. (free gift link)
Re Bush and Panama.
Bush at least had a constitutional argument to make. A crappy one maybe but there was some pretense.
The Bush administration argued that the military intervention was constitutional because the Panamanian national assembly had declared a state of war with the United States. This argument is supported by the Federal Convention, where James Madison moved to insert “declare” instead of “make” in “make war,” leaving to the executive the power to repel sudden attacks. According to observers, the invasion also violated the War Powers Resolution[70] – a federal law designed to limit presidential action without Congressional authorization – because the president failed to consult with Congress regarding the invasion prior to its execution.[71][67][72]
Trump has no even strained argument of constitutionality. But he does have a Congress that doesn’t care that their powers have been completely usurped and a SCOTUS that ignores the constitution as it suits Trump the vast majority of the time.
I won’t cry for Maduro Venezuela (and understand most of Venezuela is unlikely to). Seriously. More bothered by the thumbing our nose at international law. I am most bothered though by the bringing Imperial Presidency to a new level.
The statements from everyone left in charge of Venezuela - vice president, defense and foreign affairs ministers - don’t seem to indicate that country is going to be friendly to the US after being bombed.
Reddit claims the US bombed the mausoleum of Hugo Chavez. That’s just petty (if true).
ETA: Re-posted since it seems I posted this in a defunct thread.
Apparently not any more.
Lots of good information — historical and current, about Venezuela and about comparable actions — in this (gift link - preview not working, but the link should)
THE EDITORIAL BOARD - NY Times - opinion
Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Is Illegal and Unwise
[referencing 1989 Panama]
We sure as hell have.
Back when I was in my twenties, there was one round or another of something going on in Central or South America, and the news was saying that people there were afraid the USA was going to invade. I had had a fairly common sort of 1950’s / 1960’s history education, and my immediate reaction was ‘What are they going on about? The US doesn’t go around invading other American countries.’ Then I did a little research. Holy shit. The USA invades other countries in the Americas all the fucking time.
I had hoped for a while that maybe we’d stopped doing that. I feel more and more like the guy in the meme realizing that hey, we’re the baddies.
Maybe Maduro does need to be out of power. This ain’t the way to do it.
Countdown until Mike Johnson says he’s unfamiliar with Venezuela…
We should all bear in mind that Trump’s understanding of, well, basically everything that matters is solidly arrested in the early to mid 80s.
The current Venezuelan operation is just a flashback to Reagan-era misadventures.
I’m watching Trump’s press conference. Repeating himself – from a script – and slurring so much that he’s probably spitting all over his copy of the script – not a great look.
Biden’s probably out jogging.
[And that’s setting aside the innumerable, sequential lies Trump is telling]
ETA: Oh, good. We’re DEFINITELY, officially taking over the oil. Who knew??
How is he going to run the country?!? That requires an occupation. He’s going to occupy Venezuela?
…Now he’s rambling about Washington DC.
Au contraire. The correct statement is that Trump’s understanding of basically everything is non-existent. I’m always amused when commentators talk about something Trump has done as if he had some kind of coherent policy. That’s like watching a drunken monkey steal your lunch and trying to analyze the nuances of its grand strategy. The monkey is (a) drunk, and (b) a thief who wanted your sandwich and took it. That’s the “strategy”, in Venezuela and with everything else the Orange Buffoon does.
“It’s both horrible and breathtaking that something like this was allowed to take place.” 
There was a whole rambling sidetrack once again boosting his national guard deployments. Apparently they’re in Memphis now to? I wasn’t aware of that. I thought this was supposed to be about Venezuela?
Rubio took a big sigh, like “uh, Sir, that’s enuf. Can we get back to Venezuela now?”
Listened on the radio. Boggles the mind that anyone would listen to that and be glad that individual is running the country. And the media giving him free rein to ramble off about his use of the National Guard domestically…
I guess the message is clear - the US is powerful. Fear us! I’m so proud! /s
I apologize, me and mine (for a expansive definition of “mine”) tried like hell to stop this fiend getting power, we failed.