Venezuela’s Supreme Court Takes Action After US Left Presidential Seat Vacant Upon Capturing Maduro
- Venezuela’s Supreme Court appointed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as acting president after Nicolás Maduro was detained by U.S. forces
- The ruling stressed the need to ensure administrative continuity and defend national sovereignty amid Maduro’s absence
- Donald Trump announced that the United States would oversee Venezuela temporarily, focusing on oil infrastructure and a leadership transition
The Constitutional Chamber of Venezuela’s Supreme Court ordered on Saturday, January 3, 2026, that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assume the role of acting president following the detention of Nicolás Maduro by United States forces earlier that morning.
In its ruling, the court stated that Rodríguez would assume “the office of President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in order to guarantee administrative continuity and the comprehensive defense of the Nation.”
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According to Reuters, the decision further explained that Rodríguez would “assume and exercise, in an acting capacity, all the attributes, duties and powers inherent to the office of President to guarantee administrative continuity and the comprehensive defence of the nation.”
The chamber added that it would continue to debate the matter in order to “determine the applicable legal framework to guarantee the continuity of the State, the administration of government, and the defense of sovereignty in the face of the forced absence of the President of the Republic.”
US forces detain Nicolás Maduro
Maduro was seized in an early morning operation by U.S. forces and flown out of Venezuela. A plane carrying him landed just before 5pm local time at Stewart Airport in New York, from where he was expected to be transported to New York City, according to a source familiar with the matter.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States would oversee Venezuela until a leadership transition could be organised.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “So we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.”
Trump offered few details on how Washington intended to “run” Venezuela, given that its vice president, legislature and military remained in place and had publicly opposed the U.S. move. He said the plan would involve deploying American oil companies to the country, while maintaining the embargo “on all Venezuelan oil” and keeping U.S. forces on alert.
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said.
He added that the intervention would be carried out “with a group” largely comprised of senior U.S. officials, with a focus on repairing Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and ensuring that the population was “also taken care of.”
Next steps for Venezuela’s leadership
The Supreme Court emphasised that further debate would be required to establish the legal framework for Rodríguez’s interim presidency. The ruling underscored the need to safeguard sovereignty and maintain government functions in the wake of Maduro’s forced absence.
This development marked a dramatic escalation in Venezuela’s political crisis, with the country’s leadership now split between domestic institutions and external intervention led by Washington.
Trump threatens another president with military invasion
Legit.ng earlier reported that United States President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, telling him to “watch his a-ss or face possible military invasion.
The threat came just hours after American forces stormed Venezuela in a dramatic on January 3, 2026 raid and abducted President Nicolás Maduro.
Source: Legit.ng
