The United States has asserted sweeping authority over Venezuela following the seizure of President Nicolas Maduro in an extraordinary raid on Saturday.
Washington said it would oversee the oil-rich nation until a transition is in place and move US energy companies into the country, deepening global concern over the legality and consequences of the intervention, according to international media.
US President Donald Trump said Washington would “run” Venezuela during an interim period, arguing the move was necessary to restore order after what he described as years of corruption, election fraud and drug trafficking under Maduro. Trump said major US oil companies would be invited to take control of production and rehabilitate Venezuela’s devastated energy sector.
“We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to White House transcripts.
The comments followed a surprising US military operation that removed Maduro and his wife from Caracas and transferred him to the US, where he is being held in a New York detention centre and is expected to appear in federal court on drug-related charges on Monday, according to US judicial officials.
Interim leadership signals willingness to cooperate
Venezuela’s Supreme Court swiftly appointed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as interim president, citing the need to ensure administrative continuity and national defence, according to a ruling published by the Constitutional Chamber.
US officials said Rodríguez privately signalled a willingness to cooperate fully. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Rodríguez had indicated she would comply with US demands and expressed her willingness to do “whatever the US asks” to stabilise the country and facilitate a transition, according to State Department briefings.
Publicly, however, Rodríguez struck a defiant tone. “There is only one president in Venezuela, and his name is Nicolas Maduro,” she said in a televised address, rejecting US assertions that she had agreed to work under American oversight. “We will never again be a colony of any empire,” she added.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a powerful figure close to the military, accused Washington of orchestrating the operation to seize Venezuela’s oil wealth. “Everything was revealed — they only want our oil,” he said in an audio message shared by the ruling Socialist Party.
Maduro in US custody, allies cry kidnapping
Maduro, 63, arrived in the US late Saturday and was transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, US law enforcement officials said. He faces charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy stemming from a 2020 indictment, according to US court records.
On arrival, Maduro told US officials “Happy New Year,” a remark confirmed by two people familiar with the detention process.
Maduro’s allies denounced the operation as a kidnapping and demanded his immediate release. Russia’s foreign ministry said it was “extremely concerned” by what it described as aggressive US actions and called for Maduro’s freedom. China urged respect for Venezuela’s sovereignty, its foreign ministry said.
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned the move set a “dangerous precedent,” according to a UN spokesperson, while the UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Monday.
Streets quiet as Venezuelans fear what comes next
Inside Venezuela, Maduro loyalists remain in control of key institutions, and there were no immediate signs of mass unrest. Streets in Caracas and other cities were unusually quiet on Sunday, residents and local media reported.
“I’ve just taken the dog out and it feels like an abandoned city,” said Alejandra Palencia, a psychologist in Maracay. “People are shut inside. There is fear and uncertainty.”
Some Venezuelans stocked up on food and essentials, while others stayed indoors, recalling the aftermath of past foreign interventions, according to residents interviewed by Reuters.
Despite Maduro’s unpopularity after years of economic collapse, many Venezuelans expressed anxiety rather than celebration. “This situation caught me without food,” said a single mother in the oil city of Maracaibo. “After all, Venezuelans are used to enduring fear.”
Opposition sidelined despite regime’s fall
Trump dismissed calls from parts of the Venezuelan opposition and diaspora to install opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, saying she lacked sufficient support.
Machado was barred from standing in Venezuela’s 2024 election and has argued that her ally Edmundo González won that vote by a large margin, citing tallies compiled by opposition groups and some international observers.
Trump has shown little interest in that claim, according to US officials, instead emphasising security and oil production as immediate priorities.
Oil at the centre of US plans
Trump said major US oil companies would move into Venezuela to revive production, which has collapsed after years of mismanagement, sanctions and underinvestment.
Venezuela holds one of the world’s largest proven crude reserves, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but output has fallen to a fraction of previous levels. China is currently the main buyer of Venezuelan crude, analysts said.
“We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” Trump said, adding that the US would be reimbursed for its involvement through oil revenues.
Energy experts caution that reviving Venezuela’s oil sector would take years and billions of dollars. “The infrastructure is badly degraded,” said an analyst at the International Energy Agency. “Even with US companies, this is not a quick fix.”
Questions over legality and US oversight
The scale of the operation has stunned governments around the world and drawn comparisons with the 1989 US invasion of Panama, when Washington seized leader Manuel Noriega.
Democratic lawmakers said they were misled during congressional briefings and demanded clarity on Washington’s long-term plan. Legal experts questioned whether the seizure of a sitting foreign head of state violated international law, although US officials argue the operation was justified by criminal charges and national security concerns.
Trump’s remarks about open-ended oversight echoed rhetoric surrounding past US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which ended after years of occupation and heavy casualties.
“This won’t cost us a penny,” Trump said, referring to Venezuela’s oil revenues.
A country in limbo
Once among Latin America’s richest nations, Venezuela has seen its economy collapse under Maduro, driving about one in five citizens abroad in one of the world’s largest migrations, according to UN data.
While many Venezuelans overseas celebrated Maduro’s removal, those at home remain wary as Maduro loyalists retain control of the courts, ministries and much of the security apparatus.
Security in Caracas appeared lighter than usual on Sunday, residents said, though bakeries and coffee shops were open and joggers were out in some neighbourhoods.
It remains unclear how long Washington intends to oversee Venezuela, what role the interim leadership will play, or how a transition would be recognised internationally.
For now, Venezuela faces an uncertain future, with an interim president disputed at home, a former leader awaiting trial abroad, and the United States asserting unprecedented control over a sovereign nation’s political and economic destiny.
