{"id":127852,"date":"2026-01-05T04:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T04:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/trump-warns-new-venezuelan-leader-as-maduro-set-to-appear-in-court\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T04:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T04:03:15","slug":"trump-warns-new-venezuelan-leader-as-maduro-set-to-appear-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/trump-warns-new-venezuelan-leader-as-maduro-set-to-appear-in-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump warns new Venezuelan leader as Maduro set to appear in court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump has warned Venezuela\u2019s new leader Delcy Rodr\u00edguez she could \u201cpay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro\u201d if she \u201cdoesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

His comments to US magazine The Atlantic came as the country\u2019s deposed president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was set to appear in a New York court on Monday.<\/p>\n

The US accuses Maduro, who is charged with drug trafficking and weapons offences, of running a \u201cnarco-terrorist\u201d regime, a claim he denies.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted the US is not at war with Venezuela, after air strikes in Caracas on Saturday led to Maduro and his wife being taken into custody and transported to the US.<\/p>\n

Some Democratic lawmakers said the operation was an \u201cact of war\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Atlantic on Sunday, Trump said of Rodr\u00edguez: \u201cIf she doesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that for Venezuela,\u201dRegime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now. Can\u2019t get any worse\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Trump had vowed the US would \u201crun\u201d the country until \u201ca safe and proper and judicious transition\u201d was possible.<\/p>\n

Trump also promised US oil companies would move into the country to fix infrastructure \u201cand start making money for the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Despite the US president\u2019s claims, Maduro\u2019s allies remain in charge.<\/p>\n

The Cuban government has said 32 \u201cbrave Cuban combatants\u201d died when US forces attacked and captured Maduro and his wife. Cuba \u2013 a longstanding socialist ally of Maduro \u2013 has announced two days of national mourning.<\/p>\n

In several TV interviews on Sunday morning, Rubio defended the US\u2019s military operation in Venezuela, stressing the action did not mean the US is at war with the South American country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are at war against drug trafficking organisations. That\u2019s not a war against Venezuela,\u201d Rubio told NBC\u2019s Meet the Press on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

The secretary of state also told CBS that if Venezuela doesn\u2019t \u201cmake the right decisions\u201d, the US \u201cwill retain multiple levers of leverage to ensure that our interests are protected\u201d.<\/p>\n

That includes the \u201cquarantine\u201d the US has placed on Venezuela\u2019s oil, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to judge everything by what they do, and we\u2019re going to see what they do,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Maduro, who leads the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and has been in power since 2013, has frequently been accused of repressing opposition groups and silencing dissent in Venezuela, at times with the use of violence.<\/p>\n

He is widely seen by opponents within his country as well as by foreign governments as having illegitimately won Venezuela\u2019s 2024 election.<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s left-wing leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured at their compound and flown to the US, as part of a dramatic special forces operation in the early hours of Saturday that also saw strikes on military bases.<\/p>\n

The couple have since been charged with weapon and drug offences and are set to appear at a court in New York on Monday.<\/p>\n

Maduro has denied being a cartel leader and has accused the US of using its \u201cwar on drugs\u201d as an excuse to try to depose him and get its hands on Venezuela\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n

While US officials have said that no American troops were harmed in the attacks, Venezuela\u2019s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said a \u201clarge part\u201d of Maduro\u2019s security team and \u201csoldiers and innocent civilians\u201d were killed in the US operation.<\/p>\n

When asked why congressional authorisation wasn\u2019t sought before the US operation in Venezuela, Rubio told ABC it \u201cwasn\u2019t necessary because this wasn\u2019t an invasion\u201d.<\/p>\n

He described it as a \u201claw enforcement operation\u201d, and said Maduro was arrested on the ground by FBI agents.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t notify Congress of an operation like this because \u201cit will leak\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

Maduro\u2019s vice president Delcy Rodr\u00edguez is now the interim president after being sworn in by the nation\u2019s Supreme Court. The country\u2019s military has also given its backing to her. She will be sworn in as president on Monday in Caracas, at 08:00 local time (12:00 GMT).<\/p>\n

Speaking to US media outlets, Rubio was asked if the US recognises Rodr\u00edguez as the legitimate president of Venezuela.<\/p>\n

He answered that \u201cthis is not about the legitimate president\u201d as the US does not recognise the regime as legitimate.<\/p>\n

Some Democratic lawmakers have condemned the administration\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the secretive military operation, which was conducted without approval from Congress, \u201cwas not simply a narcotics operation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an act of war,\u201d Jeffries told NBC\u2019s Meet the Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a military action involving Delta Force, involving the army, apparently involving thousands of troops, involving at least 150 military aircraft, perhaps involving dozens of ships off the coast of Venezuela and South America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Himes, the most senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, told CBS Face the Nation he had had \u201czero outreach\u201d from the Trump administration, adding \u201cno Democrat that I\u2019m aware of has had any outreach\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an interview with ABC This Week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer questioned the legality of the US operation.<\/p>\n

Schumer said that while he believes Maduro is a horrible person, \u201cYou don\u2019t treat lawlessness with other lawlessness\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have learned through the years when America tries to do regime change and nation building in this way, the American people pay the price in both blood and in dollars,\u201d Schumer said.<\/p>\n

He added that Trump had abandoned his campaign promise of \u201cno more endless wars\u201d.<\/p>\n

Both Schumer and Jeffries vowed to support a resolution that, if passed in both houses, would prohibit Trump from taking any further action in Venezuela without Congressional approval.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, the governments of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain said the US\u2019s military actions \u201cconstitute an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and endanger the civilian population\u201d.<\/p>\n

They said they wanted a solution to the Venezuela situation to come from peaceful means such as dialogue and negotiation.<\/p>\n

They also expressed concern about external control that is \u201cincompatible with international law\u201d and \u201cthreatens the political, economic, and social stability of the region\u201d.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump has warned Venezuela\u2019s new leader Delcy Rodr\u00edguez she could \u201cpay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro\u201d if she \u201cdoesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right\u201d. His comments to US magazine The Atlantic came as the country\u2019s deposed president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was set to appear in a New York court on Monday. The US accuses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127852\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}