Venezuela’s interim government stays united behind Maduro after his US capture

A top Venezuelan official declared on Jan 4 that the country’s government would stay unified behind President Nicolas Maduro, whose capture by the United States has sparked deep uncertainty about what is next for the oil-rich South American nation.

Mr Maduro is in a New York detention centre awaiting a Jan 5 court appearance
on drug charges, after US President Donald Trump ordered his removal from Venezuela and said the US would take control of the country. But in Caracas, top officials in Mr Maduro’s government, who have called the detentions of Mr Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores a kidnapping, were still in charge.

“Here, the unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed, and here, there is only one president, whose name is Nicolas Maduro Moros. Let no one fall for the enemy’s provocations,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in an audio shared by the ruling PSUV socialist party on Jan 4 as he urged calm.

Images of the 63-year-old Mr Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed on Jan 3 stunned Venezuelans. The action is Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.

Without providing specifics, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said on state television that the US attack killed soldiers, civilians and a “large part” of Mr Maduro’s security detail “in cold blood”. Venezuela’s armed forces have been activated to guarantee sovereignty, he said.

Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez – who also serves as oil minister – has taken over as interim leader with the blessing of Venezuela’s top court, though she has said Mr Maduro remains president. Because of her connections with the private sector and deep knowledge of oil, the country’s top source of revenue, Ms Rodriguez has long been considered the most pragmatic member of Mr Maduro’s inner circle.

But she has publicly contradicted Mr Trump’s claim that she is willing to work with the United States.

Mr Trump said Ms Rodriguez may pay a bigger price
than Mr Maduro “if she doesn’t do what’s right”, according to an interview with The Atlantic magazine on Jan 4. The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that remark.

‘A quarantine on their oil’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Venezuela’s next leader should be aligned with US interests. Those include keeping Venezuela’s oil industry out of the hands of US adversaries and stopping drug trafficking. He cited an ongoing US blockade on tankers under sanctions
as leverage. “We have a quarantine on their oil,” Mr Rubio said on ABC’s This Week.

“That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interest of the Venezuelan people are met.”

The Venezuelan government has said for months that Mr Trump’s pressure campaign is an effort to take the country’s vast natural resources, especially its oil, and officials have made much of his comment on Jan 3 that major US oil companies would move in.

Mr Cabello, who has close ties to the military, said: “We are outraged because in the end, everything was revealed – it was revealed that they only want our oil.”

Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA is asking some joint ventures to cut back crude output by shutting down oilfields or groups of wells amid an export paralysis, three sources close to the decision told Reuters.

The OPEC country’s oil exports halted after the US in December announced a blockade on sanctioned tankers moving in and out of Venezuelan waters and seized two oil cargoes. Once one of the most prosperous nations in Latin America, Venezuela’s economy nosedived further under Mr Maduro, sending about one in five Venezuelans abroad in one of the world’s biggest exoduses.

Muted streets

Mr Maduro’s opponents in Venezuela have been wary of celebrating his seizure, and the presence of security forces seemed, if anything, lighter than usual on Jan 4.

Despite the nervous mood, some bakeries and coffee shops were open and joggers and cyclists were out like it was a normal Sunday morning. Some citizens were stocking up on essentials.

“Yesterday, I was very afraid to go out, but today I had to. This situation caught me without food and I need to figure things out. After all, Venezuelans are used to enduring fear,” said a single mother in oil city Maracaibo, who said she bought rice, vegetables and tuna. “If this is necessary for my son to grow up in a free country, I’ll keep enduring the fear.”

The owner of a small supermarket in the same city said the business did not open on Jan 3 after strikes on military installations in Caracas and elsewhere and US Special Forces swooped in on helicopters to seize Mr Maduro.

“Today, we’ll work until noon since we’re close to many neighbourhoods. People have nowhere to buy food and we need to help them,” the shop owner said.

To the disappointment of Venezuela’s opposition, Mr Trump has given short shrift to the idea of 58-year-old opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado taking over, saying she lacked support.

Ms Machado was banned from standing in the 2024 election but has said her ally Edmundo Gonzalez, 76, who the opposition and some international observers say overwhelmingly won that vote, has a democratic mandate to take the presidency.

Looming questions

It is unclear how Mr Trump plans to oversee Venezuela and he runs the risk of alienating some supporters who oppose foreign interventions.

US Senator Chuck Schumer, who leads the Senate Democrats, said the White House has failed to answer critical questions, including how long the US intends to be in Venezuela and how many American troops might be required.

“The American people are worried that this is creating an endless war – the very thing that Donald Trump campaigned against over and over and over again,” Mr Schumer said on ABC’s This Week.

He said lawmakers would weigh a measure to constrain further Trump administration action in Venezuela. While many Western nations oppose Mr Maduro, there were many calls for the US to respect international law and resolve the crisis diplomatically.

Questions have arisen over the legality of seizing a foreign head of state. The UN Security Council planned to meet on Jan 5 to discuss the US attack. Russia and China, both major backers of Venezuela, have criticised the US.

Mr Maduro was indicted in 2020 on US charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy. He has always denied any criminal involvement. REUTERS