The United States has carried out a military operation against Venezuela, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in an action said to have lasted 30 minutes and involved more than 150 US aircraft in Venezuelan airspace. The president has since been flown to New York, where he was seen in handcuffs and a blindfold. As uncertainty gripped the nation, the Venezuelan court directed Delcy Rodriguez to assume the duties of the acting President.
‘She is willing to do what we think is necessary’: Trump
US President Donald Trump had confirmed the forcible ouster of Maduro and his wife soon after the strikes, adding that America would now “run the country”. US President Donald Trump has also claimed that he is in contact with one of Maduro’s most trusted aides. He added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Rodriguez had a conversation, and that Rodriguez had agreed to do whatever the US wanted.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump had said. Interestingly, Rodriguez faced US sanctions during Trump’s first administration for her role in “undermining Venezuelan democracy”.
“I think she was quite gracious. We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind,” he went on to say.
‘There is only one president…,’ Rodriguez counters
The acting president of Venezuela has downplayed Trump’s claims, demanding the immediate release of President Maduro and his wife, Flores. “There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro,” Rodriguez said on state TV.
She, per a report by CNBC, added, “What is being done to Venezuela is an atrocity that violates international law. History and justice will make the extremists who promoted this armed aggression pay.”
According to the country’s constitution, the vice president assumes presidential duties in the event of the president’s temporary or absolute absence, as outlined in Articles 233 and 234, CNN reported. It also states that a new election must be called within a month in the absence of the president, CNBC reported.
Who is Delcy Rodriguez?
Delcy Rodríguez, now Venezuela’s interim president, has long been a key figure in the country’s political scene. A Caracas native and law graduate from the Central University of Venezuela, she has held multiple high-profile roles, including vice president and minister of finance and oil.
Rodríguez has been a leading figure in chavismo, the political movement founded by former President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, and continued by Nicolás Maduro after Chávez’s death in 2013. She served as minister of communication and information from 2013 to 2014 and then as foreign minister from 2014 to 2017.
In 2017, Rodríguez became president of the Constituent National Assembly. The executive powers of this institution were expanded after the opposition won the 2015 legislative elections. In 2018, Maduro appointed her vice president for his second term – a position she continued to hold into his third term, which began on January 10 following the disputed July 28 election in 2024.