VENEZUELA’s Supreme Court has directed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to take over as interim leader following the seizure and removal of President Nicolás Maduro by the United States.
In its ruling, the court ordered Rodríguez to “assume and exercise, in an acting capacity, all the attributes, duties, and powers inherent to the office of President,” citing the need to ensure administrative continuity and the comprehensive defence of the nation.
According to AFP, the court said Rodríguez would temporarily occupy the presidency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to safeguard the continuity of government and national sovereignty.
It added that it would later deliberate on the appropriate legal framework to address the president’s forced absence and maintain state stability.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said Washington would oversee Venezuela until a transition of leadership could be arranged.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. He added that the US did not want to install another leader only to face the same challenges that had persisted for years.
Trump provided few details on how the United States intended to administer Venezuela, despite the continued presence of the country’s vice president, legislature, and military, all of which have publicly opposed the US action. He said the plan would involve US oil companies investing billions of dollars to repair Venezuela’s damaged oil infrastructure, even as he maintained that the embargo on Venezuelan oil remained in force and that US forces would stay 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.
Reports stated that a plane carrying Maduro landed shortly before 5 p.m. local time at Stewart Airport in New York, from where he was to be transferred to New York City.
Trump said the intervention would be carried out “with a group” largely made up of senior US officials, with a focus on restoring oil infrastructure and ensuring that the needs of the Venezuelan population were addressed.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.