Venezuelan Vice President Assumes Leadership After Maduro’s Capture

On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that Delcy Rodriguez, the Vice President of Venezuela, has been sworn in as the country’s leader after the U.S. military captured socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro earlier that same day.

“I understand she just took the oath, but as you know, she was picked by Maduro. Marco,” he mentioned, referring to Marco Rubio. “We’re working directly on that. He just spoke with her, and she’s essentially going to do whatever we think is needed to help Venezuela thrive again,” Trump told reporters.

During another part of the press conference, Trump stated that Rubio and Army Secretary Pete Hegseth would form a “team” to assist the Venezuelan people in ensuring “our Venezuela is right.”

“Because if we just walk away, who takes over? That leaves no one. We have a vice president who was appointed by President Maduro. Now she’s in charge, having just taken office,” Trump elaborated. “She had an extensive conversation with Marco and stated, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes.’ I think she meant well, but really, she had little choice.”

Rodriguez has been Maduro’s vice president since 2018, and she became oil minister in 2024. Over the last two decades, she’s held various significant roles within Maduro’s administration. Her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, currently heads the socialist-leaning National Assembly and collaborates with groups linked to the regime. The vice presidency in Venezuela isn’t an elected role and can be appointed or removed at the president’s discretion, as per the constitution.

As of this writing, Rodriguez’s location hasn’t been confirmed. Reuters reported that she might be in Russia, though the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected these claims as false.

Earlier Saturday, Rodriguez made an appearance on VTV, the state’s primary news outlet, and stated that the regime had no information regarding Maduro’s whereabouts after he and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured by U.S. forces. She requested that the U.S. government provide “proof of the survival” of both Maduro and Flores.

Back in 2018, during Trump’s first term, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Delcy Rodriguez, her brother Jorge, Cilia Flores—who is currently detained—and other members of the Maduro administration. The European Union imposed similar sanctions against her in 2018.