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Venezuela’s Supreme Court has appointed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as the country’s interim president to ensure governmental continuity following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by United States forces.
The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court issued the ruling on Saturday, stating that Rodríguez would assume “the office of President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in order to guarantee administrative continuity and the comprehensive defense of the nation.”
The court added that it would further deliberate to “determine the applicable legal framework to guarantee the continuity of the state, the administration of government, and the defence of sovereignty in the face of the forced absence of the President of the Republic.”
Maduro, who has led Venezuela since 2013, was captured early Saturday in a US military operation and extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges.
The move has sparked international controversy, but US President Donald Trump praised the operation and announced that American companies would utilise Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, estimated at 20% of the world’s crude, to fund infrastructure repairs and generate revenue for the US.
Rodríguez, 56, a longtime ally of Maduro and daughter of revolutionary guerrilla fighter Jorge Antonio Rodriguez, has held multiple high-profile roles in the government, including foreign minister and head of the oil ministry.
Appointed vice president in 2018, she was described by Maduro at the time as “a young woman, brave, seasoned, daughter of a martyr, revolutionary and tested in a thousand battles.”
In an audio message broadcast on state television shortly after the court’s decision, Rodríguez defiantly asserted Maduro’s legitimacy, saying, “There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros.”
She demanded proof of life for Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from the US government and rejected any notion of foreign control.
Trump, however, claimed the US was in contact with Rodríguez and that she had been “sworn in as president and was ‘willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.'”
He further stated that the United States would “run Venezuela in the immediate future” until a safe transition could occur, dismissing opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as lacking sufficient support.
Rodríguez pushed back strongly against Trump’s remarks, declaring, “We will not be an American colony again. What was done to Venezuela could be done to any country in the region.”
She announced the activation of all authorities against the “savage” Trump, signalling potential escalation in tensions.
The appointment has drawn mixed reactions. Venezuelans in exile in countries like Argentina, Peru, and Chile celebrated Maduro’s capture, while some expressed concerns that the country could face a fate similar to Iraq, Libya, or Syria under foreign intervention.
The ruling effectively sidelines the opposition from immediately claiming power, keeping control within Maduro’s socialist PSUV party amid ongoing political turmoil.
Maduro is set to be arraigned in the US on Monday, as the world watches how this unprecedented shift will unfold in one of Latin America’s most oil-rich nations.
