- Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is in Russia, four sources familiar with her movements said, stoking confusion about who is next in line to govern the South American country. Russia’s foreign ministry said the report that Rodriguez is in Russia was “fake”.
Details of the overnight intervention have not yet been made public. Trump told Fox the raid had been planned for several days earlier but had been repeatedly delayed because of weather.
The U.S. has not made such a direct intervention in its backyard region since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago to depose military leader Manuel Noriega over similar allegations.
Venezuela’s ruling “Chavismo” movement, named for Maduro’s revered predecessor, said civilians and military personnel died in Saturday’s strikes but did not give figures.
It was unclear if the U.S. would now stand back while other senior figures in Venezuela’s ruling party – like vice president Delcy Rodriguez – fill the void or if there would be pressure for their ouster as well. The opposition, headed by recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, had no immediate comment but has said for 18 months that it won the 2024 election and has a democratic right to take power.
MADURO MAY FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES IN U.S.
Trump said the operation was carried out “in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement,” promising more details at an 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Maduro was captured by a team that included elite U.S. special forces, including the U.S. Army’s Delta Force, a U.S. official told Reuters. Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told him Maduro would stand trial on criminal charges in the U.S. and that no further action was anticipated inside Venezuela.
Maduro was indicted in U.S. federal court in 2020 on narco-terrorism and other charges for running what prosecutors called a scheme to send tonnes of cocaine to the U.S. through an alleged “Cartel de Los Soles”. He has always denied that.
“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X about Maduro and his wife.
In the Panama case, Noriega ended up in prison for 20 years.
Vice-president Rodriguez said she did not know the whereabouts of Maduro or his wife and demanded proof of life.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned the intervention. “In the unity of the people we will find the strength to resist and to triumph,” he said in a video message.
Another senior official, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, appeared on a street wearing a helmet and flak jacket, urging people not to cooperate with the “terrorist enemy.”
With Rodriguez potentially taking the presidency but Padrino and Cabello having significant influence over the military, Venezuelans were nervously guessing what might come next. Analysts say military backing had helped keep Maduro in power so long despite his unpopularity on the streets and significant evidence that he lost national votes.
VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER MACHADO’S WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWN
Venezuela’s opposition says Maduro has repeatedly cheated it of power in votes, as well as crushing street protests and jailing opposition figures.
Maduro has mocked Machado as being in Trump’s pocket. . . '
