{"id":127945,"date":"2026-01-06T04:03:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T04:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/venezuela-swears-in-interim-president-after-defiant-maduro-pleads-not-guilty-in-us-court\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T04:03:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T04:03:55","slug":"venezuela-swears-in-interim-president-after-defiant-maduro-pleads-not-guilty-in-us-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/venezuela-swears-in-interim-president-after-defiant-maduro-pleads-not-guilty-in-us-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela swears in interim president after defiant Maduro pleads not guilty in US court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delcy Rodr\u00edguez has been sworn in as Venezuela\u2019s interim president in a parliamentary session that began with demands for the release from US custody of ousted leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez, 56, vice president since 2018, said she was pained by what she called the \u201ckidnapping\u201d of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores who were seized by US forces in an overnight raid on Saturday.<\/p>\n

In dramatic scenes inside a New York court room two hours earlier, Maduro insisted he was still the president of Venezuela as he pleaded not guilty to four charges of drug trafficking and terrorism.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the US faced sharp criticism at the UN, but the US ambassador said the largest energy reserves in the world could not be left in the hands of an illegitimate leader, a \u201cfugitive from justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Before the court appearance, the UN Security Council held an emergency session to discuss the situation in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

The ambassador for Venezuela, Samuel Moncada, said his country had been the target of an \u201cillegitimate armed attack lacking any legal justification\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, justified the attack by describing Maduro as \u201can illegitimate so-called president\u201d.<\/p>\n

Waltz added that the US had carried out a \u201csurgical law enforcement operation\u201d to apprehend Maduro, whom he is also referred to as a \u201cfugitive from justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Maduro has been accused of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.<\/p>\n

During Monday afternoon\u2019s court appearance, a member of the public began to yell in Spanish at Maduro that he would \u201cpay\u201d for what he had done.<\/p>\n

Maduro turned to him and replied that he was a \u201ckidnapped president\u201d and a \u201cprisoner of war\u201d before being escorted out in shackles behind his wife through the back court door.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a decent man. I am still president of my country,\u201d Maduro said earlier during the 30-minute hearing.<\/p>\n

Judge Alvin Hellerstein, 92, interjected to tell Maduro that there would be a \u201ctime and a place to get into all of this\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking just hours after Saturday\u2019s attack \u2013 which saw over 150 aircraft and 200 US personnel enter Venezuela \u2013 Trump had vowed the US would \u201crun\u201d Venezuela until \u201ca safe and proper and judicious transition\u201d was possible.<\/p>\n

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

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

In comments made to the US magazine The Atlantic on Sunday once it became clear Rodr\u00edguez would be sworn in, Trump warned she could \u201cpay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro\u201d if she \u201cdoesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right\u201d.<\/p>\n

During a cabinet meeting, Rodr\u00edguez indicated her government would engage in some cooperation with the US, saying: \u201cWe invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of co-operation orientated towards shared development within the framework of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of Venezuelans gathered outside the Federal Legislative Palace to show support for Maduro, his wife and the interim president Rodr\u00edguez as she was sworn in.<\/p>\n

Speaking after taking her oath, Rodr\u00edguez told the National Assembly she did so \u201cwith pain\u201d because of the suffering caused by \u201cillegitimate military aggression\u201d.<\/p>\n

She vowed to guarantee the peace of the country, \u201cthe spiritual tranquillity of our people, the economic and social tranquillity of our people\u201d.<\/p>\n

The assembly also heard from Maduro\u2019s son who expressed his support for his parents \u2013 saying that they \u201cwill return\u201d to Venezuela.<\/p>\n

He also offered his \u201cunconditional support\u201d to Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n

The next court hearing in Maduro\u2019s case has been scheduled for 17 March.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delcy Rodr\u00edguez has been sworn in as Venezuela\u2019s interim president in a parliamentary session that began with demands for the release from US custody of ousted leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. Rodr\u00edguez, 56, vice president since 2018, said she was pained by what she called the \u201ckidnapping\u201d of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores who were seized […]<\/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-127945","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\/127945","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=127945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}