Delcy Rodríguez Sworn In As Interim President of Venezuela Following Trump Warning
Venezuela’s former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was officially sworn in earlier today (Monday 5th January, 2026) as the country’s new interim President, while her predecessor Nicolás Maduro awaited arraignment in a federal U.S. Court on drug smuggling charges. This comes two (2) days after Maduro was dramatically captured in Caracas by American special forces.
Watch as Delcy Rodriguez, former vice president, is sworn in as Venezuela's new leaderhttps://t.co/QqZybFuKDe
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 5, 2026
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/W9TIr2ZpQU
Rodríguez, 56, is said to be a powerful figure and longtime confidant of Maduro, and she has been backed thus far as the nation's new leader by Venezuela's military. She served as Venezuela's Vice President from 2018 until Sunday (4th January, 2026).
Her brother also holds a senior role in the Venezuelan Government as President of the National Assembly, Venezuela's legislature, which has long been controlled by the Maduro regime.
Rodríguez quickly denounced the U.S. operation as a violation of the United Nations founding charter and a unilateral attempt to force regime change on Saturday (3rd January, 2026), but soon adopted a more conciliatory tone.
In a social media post following a Cabinet meeting on Sunday (4th January, 2026), Rodríguez called for “respectful international relations” between Caracas and Washington and extended an invite for “the U.S. Government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation.”
It was still unclear today (Monday 5th January, 2026) just how much autonomy Washington will allow Venezuela, given President Trump's assertion that America will “run” the country, at least for some time.
Trump said on Saturday (3rd January, 2026) that the U.S. had been in contact with Rodriguez and “she's essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
However, in an interview with The Atlantic, published on Sunday, he added a warning: “If she doesn't do what's right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, indicated in a Sunday interview on CBS News' Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan, that the U.S. was willing to give Rodríguez a chance. “We are going to make our assessments of people,” he said of the remaining Maduro regime figures still in place. “We're going to make an assessment on the basis of what they do, not what they say publicly in the interim, not what, you know, some of what they've done in the past in many cases, but what they do moving forward.”
Venezuela's roughly 30 million people are now facing a deeply uncertain future.
This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates.
[Source: CBS News]
Comments
Post a Comment