Venezuela’s vice president declared that Nicolás Maduro is the “only president of Venezuela” in a defiant speech that appeared to throw cold water on President Trump’s claims she was cooperating with his administration.
“The government of the United States launched an unprecedented military aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” Delcy Rodríguez said in her speech.
The VP made her remarks flanked by high ranking generals and government officials in a televised address to the nation after convening an emergency meeting.
She demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores after the two were captured in a daring overnight raid by US forces.
The ousted Venezuelan despot and his wife are en route to New York City where they will face drug trafficking, narcoterrorism and other charges.
Delcy’s remarks come just hours after Trump claimed that his administration was working with her to figure out the next steps for her cash-strapped country.
“You have a vice president who’s been appointed by Maduro … she had a long conversation with Marco and she said ‘we’ll do whatever you need,’” Trump said at a Saturday press conference.
The president went on to say that Delcy was “quite gracious” but bluntly remarked that she had no other choice, vowing the US was going to “do this right.”
The Venezuelan vice president appeared to be in total defiance of Trump during her speech, and condemned the US for carrying out the raid.
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“We had already warned that an aggression was underway under false excuses and false pretenses, and that the masks had fallen off, revealing only one objective: regime change in Venezuela,” she said.
The de-facto leader of Venezuela accused the United States of waging the regime change operation in order to acquire the country’s vast natural resources.
Venezuela is home to the world’s largest oil reserves, but the regime in Caracas has only been able to pump and export a fraction of their capacity due to mismanagement, waste and abuse.
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“We will never be a colony of any empire,” Delcy said.
Trump explained that a team from his administration, which would include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, would manage Venezuela’s transition in conjunction with the Venezuelan people now that Maduro is ousted.
“We’ll run it professionally, we’ll run it properly, we’ll have the greatest oil companies in the world going in, they’re going to invest billions and billions of dollars and use that money in Venezuela,” Trump said.
Delcy said “all of the national power” of Venezuela was deployed throughout the country after Maduro’s capture. She thanked China and other nations for their support, and claimed that the US actions had a “Zionist tint.”
