After the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in its strikes dubbed “Absolute Resolve” on the country’s capital, Caracas, the White House issued a message to the world. The message included the term FAFO, an acronym for “f’d around and found out”.

‘No games. FAFO.’

The White House also shared a black and white picture of Trump with the caption, “No games. FAFO.”

Hegseth elaborates FAFO

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a press conference, said that Maduro “had his chance” and “multiple opportunities to avoid” what happened on Saturday. He compared the situation to Iran, stating, “Just like Iran had their chance until they didn’t and until he didn’t.” 

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“He f’d around and he found out,” he continued. He went on to say that Trump is “deadly serious” about “reestablishing American deterrence and dominance in the Western Hemisphere” and preventing drugs and gangs from entering US soil. 

“He was provided multiple very, very, very generous offers, and chose instead to act like a wild man. Chose instead to play around, and the result is what we saw tonight. The other message here is the following: you have a guy, like many people around the world, who likes to play games,” he further said, before making it clear that President Trump is not a fan of games. 

He stressed, “But the president doesn’t go out looking for people to pick fights with. He generally wants to get along with everybody. We’ll talk and meet with anybody. But don’t play games. Don’t play games with this president in office, because it’s not going to turn out well.”

‘Trump is a President of action’: Rubio

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, too, during the press conference, said that Trump is a “President of action”. “I don’t understand yet how they haven’t figured this out. And now, if you don’t know, now you know.”

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He added, “Because this is the way it’s going to play out, and I think people need to understand that this is not a president that just talks and does letters and press conferences. If he says he’s serious about something, he means it. And this is something that was a direct threat to the national interest of the United States, and the president addressed it.”

In October, US President Donald Trump had warned that Maduro “doesn’t want to f— around with the United States”. 

Following the operation, Trump’s son Eric shared his father’s message on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote: “The ‘FAFO’ era continues.”