Venezuela Live Updates: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro arrived in New York after he was “captured” early Saturday morning in an operation by US forces. US President Donald Trump had confirmed a “large-scale strike against Venezuela” on Saturday.
A video posted by the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account on X showed Maduro being walked in custody down a hallway at the offices of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in New York City.
Who will rule Venezuela now?
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has been declared Maduro’s apparent successor. In an address on state television, Rodríguez said Maduro is the country’s only president, as she called for his release from the US’ custody.
This comes even as US President Donald Trump said, “We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
During a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump was quoted by Reuters as saying that as part of the takeover, major US oil companies would move into Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves, and refurbish badly degraded oil infrastructure, a process experts said could take years.
Stay tuned to this LIVE blog for all the latest updates on US strikes in Venezuela.