abduction<\/a>\u00a0of Nicolas Maduro in a United States military operation.<\/p>\nOn Monday, Rodriguez appeared before Venezuela\u2019s National Assembly to take her oath of office.<\/p>\n
Speaking before the legislative body, composed largely of government loyalists, Rodriguez reaffirmed her opposition to the military attack that led to the capture and removal of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.<\/p>\n
\u201cI come with pain over the kidnapping of two heroes who are being held hostage: President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores,\u201d Rodriguez, 56, told the assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI swear to work tirelessly to guarantee the peace, spiritual, economic and social tranquillity of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
A former labour lawyer, Rodriguez has been serving as acting president since the early-morning attack that resulted in the abduction. Explosions were reported before dawn on Saturday in the capital, Caracas, as well as at nearby Venezuelan military bases and some civilian areas.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s swearing-in ceremony was overseen by Rodriguez\u2019s brother \u2013 the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez \u2013 and Maduro\u2019s son, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro Guerra, who held a copy of the Venezuelan Constitution.<\/p>\n
Other members of Maduro\u2019s inner circle, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino, were also in attendance.<\/p>\n
The ceremony took place as Maduro, her predecessor and former boss, faced an arraignment proceeding in a New York City courthouse.<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors in the US have charged Maduro with four counts related to allegations he leveraged government powers to export thousands of tonnes of cocaine to North America.<\/p>\n
The charges include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, the illegal possession of machine guns and other destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess such guns and devices.<\/p>\n
Maduro and his wife have pleaded not guilty to the charges, and their allies, including Rodriguez, have denounced the pair\u2019s abduction as a violation of international law, as well as Venezuelan sovereignty.<\/p>\n
In court on Monday, Maduro maintained he remained the rightful leader of Venezuela, saying, \u201cI am still president.\u201d<\/p>\n
The administration of US President Donald Trump, however, has signalled that it plans to work with Rodriguez for the time being, though Trump himself warned that her tenure as president could be cut short, should she fail to abide by US demands.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she doesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,\u201d Trump told The Atlantic magazine in a Sunday morning interview.<\/p>\n
A day earlier, in a televised address announcing the attack, Trump had said his administration plans \u201cto run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Air Force One on Sunday, as he flew back to Washington, DC, Trump doubled down on that statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t ask me who\u2019s in charge, because I\u2019ll give you an answer that will be very controversial. We\u2019re in charge,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
He added that Rodriguez is \u201ccooperating\u201d and that, while he personally has not spoken to her, \u201cwe\u2019re dealing with the people who just got sworn in\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration\u2019s seeming willingness to allow Rodriguez, a former labour lawyer, to remain in charge has raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez, who served as vice president since 2018, is known to be a stalwart \u201cchavista\u201d: an adherent of the left-wing political movement founded by Maduro\u2019s mentor, the late Hugo Chavez. She has held various ministerial roles under Maduro, including leading the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n
But Trump\u2019s allies in the Republican Party have argued that keeping Rodriguez in place is simply a practical reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t recognise Delcy Rodriguez as the legitimate ruler of Venezuela. We didn\u2019t recognise Nicolas Maduro as a legitimate ruler,\u201d Republican Senator Tom Cotton told CNN on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a fact that she and other indicted and sanctioned officials are in Venezuela. They have control over the military and security services. We have to deal with that fact. That does not make them a legitimate leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
While on Air Force One, Trump largely avoided committing to new elections in Venezuela, indicating he would instead focus on \u201cfixing\u201d the country and allowing US oil companies access to its vast petroleum reserves.<\/p>\n
One reporter on the aeroplane asked, \u201cHow soon can an election take place?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I think we\u2019re looking more at getting it fixed, getting it ready first, because it\u2019s a mess. The country is a mess,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cIt\u2019s been horribly run. The oil is just flowing at a very low level.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later added, \u201cWe\u2019re going to run everything. We\u2019re going to run it, fix it. We\u2019ll have elections at the right time. But the main thing you have to fix: It\u2019s a broken country. There\u2019s no money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recent presidential elections in Venezuela have been widely denounced as fraudulent, with Maduro claiming victory in each one.<\/p>\n
The contested 2018 election, for example, led to the US briefly recognising opposition leader Juan Guaido as president, instead of Maduro.<\/p>\n
Later, Maduro also claimed victory for a third term in office during the 2024 presidential race, despite election regularities.<\/p>\n
The official vote tally was not released, and the opposition published documents that appeared to show that Maduro\u2019s rival, Edmundo Gonzalez, had won. Protests erupted on Venezuela\u2019s streets, and the nonprofit Human Rights Watch reported that more than 2,000 protesters were unlawfully detained, with at least 25 dead in apparent extrajudicial killings.<\/p>\n
The opposition has largely boycotted legislative elections in Venezuela, denouncing them as rigged in favour of \u201cchavistas\u201d.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s swearing-in ceremony included the 283 members of the National Assembly elected last May. Few opposition candidates were among them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delcy Rodriguez sworn in as Venezuela\u2019s president after Maduro abduction Trump has signalled that Rodriguez could face dire consequences should she buck US priorities for Venezuela. Delcy Rodriguez, formerly Venezuela\u2019s vice president, has been formally sworn in to lead the South American country following the\u00a0abduction\u00a0of Nicolas Maduro in a United States military operation. On Monday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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