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The United States will take interim control of Venezuela after capturing President Nicolas Maduro and does not rule out deploying US troops on the ground, US President Donald Trump said.
Venezuela's top court orders VP Delcy Rodriguez to be acting president.
Several countries have issued strong condemnations over the US for its attack on Venezuela.
A United States military attack on Venezuela marks a turning point in hemispheric relations, South American experts say, warning that it could have far-reaching consequences for the region and beyond.
Washington carried out airstrikes inside Venezuela early on Saturday and captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Maduro was in a detention center in New York on Sunday and was expected to face trial under the US judicial system.
The attack followed months of heightened tensions between Venezuela and the US, which has accused Maduro of involvement in drug trafficking.
Jorge Heine, Chile's former ambassador to China and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute in Washington, rejected the US' stated justification that the operation was linked to narcotics trafficking, saying Venezuela is neither a major drug producer nor a key transit country.
"There are two main reasons for this attack," Heine said. "To get US hands on Venezuelan oil, and to appeal to the Cuban and Venezuelan exile vote in Florida — Secretary of State Marco Rubio's home state."
The removal of Maduro does not resolve Venezuela's internal political crisis and could deepen uncertainty, he said.
He questioned Washington's post-intervention plans. "(US President Donald) Trump said in his press conference that the US will now run Venezuela, but how would that work?"
The operation has also unsettled governments across South America, Heine said, warning that the precedent could have broader regional implications.
The intervention "will cause great damage to the US standing in the region" and reinforces calls for greater strategic independence among Latin American countries, he said.
Beyond the region, Heine said the intervention carries serious implications for global governance.
"The attack on Venezuela is a flagrant violation of international law and of the United Nations Charter," he said. "It constitutes a significant blow to the international legal order and multilateralism."
Xavier Diaz-Lacayo, a Nicaraguan political analyst, strongly condemned the US military strike on Venezuela, calling for the international community to act.
"It is time to say enough," he told Cuban news agency Prensa Latina.
The international community should "firmly condemn the aggression and demand restitution" for "an assault on the international legal order".
Diaz-Lacayo urged Washington to respect international norms on self-determination and international law. He called for the restoration of Maduro "to the full exercise of his functions".
"The world must demand that the US handle international affairs according to the principles of peace and dialogue, as decided by the peoples of Latin America and the world."
Venezuela is determined "to live in peace and to exercise sovereignly the use of its strategic resources, such as oil and hydrocarbons, to sustain its economic development", he said. However, this right is being denied through accusations and attacks "that have no relation to international legality", he added.
The US position is "based on the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine, aimed at securing strategic, economic, political and military interests in the region", he said. He warned that "the condemnation from peoples and governments of the world contrasts with the persistence of a unilateral stance by the United States".
Agencies contributed to this story.
gaoyang@chinadailyusa.com
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — Twelve hours after the United States bombed Venezuela during an operation to capture President Nicolas Maduro, the smoke continued to seep from hangars in the port of La Guaira north of Caracas.
La Guaira was one of several areas in or near Caracas struck by jets during a stealth mission to snatch Maduro and whisk him out of the country.
Deformed shipping containers, their contents spilling onto the docks, bore testimony to the force of the strikes that US officials said were designed to clear the way for helicopters to swoop in on Maduro's hiding place.
There were no reports of casualties in the area.
Firefighters used an excavator to remove broken glass and gnarled metal strewn across the site as police with pump-action rifles patrolled on motorbikes to prevent looting.
Curious onlookers filmed the scene on their smartphones, many still incredulous at the speed and magnitude of the day's events. In a little over an hour, US forces removed Maduro who had clung to power through years of United States sanctions.
The blasts blew out the windows of public buildings on La Guaira's seafront and ripped the roofs off several houses.
"Psssh, first we saw the flash and then the explosion," said Alpidio Lovera, 47, who ran to a hill with his pregnant wife and other residents to escape the strikes.
His sister Linda Unamuno, 39, burst into sobs as she recalled a nightmarish night.
"The blast smashed the entire roof of my house," she said.
Unamuno's first thoughts were that La Guaira was experiencing another natural disaster, 26 years after a landslide of biblical proportions swept away 10,000 people, many of them washed out to sea.
"I went out, that's when I saw what was happening. I saw the fire from the airstrikes. It was traumatizing," she sobbed, adding she "wished it on no one".
In Caracas, while a few hundred Maduro supporters gathered to clamor for his freedom, the streets were otherwise eerily quiet.
"I felt the explosions lift me out of bed," Maria Eugenia Escobar, 58, told Agence France-Presse. "In that instant I thought: 'My God, the day has come,' and I cried."
The strikes started around 2 am, with dozens of detonations that some people at first mistook for fireworks.
Katia Briceno, a 54-year-old university professor, came out to protest against US "barbarism".
"How is it that a foreign government comes into the country and removes the president? It's absurd!" she told AFP.
Agencies via Xinhua
Trump warns of second strike on Venezuela if current gov't doesn't behave
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Sunday stressed that the United States needs Greenland "for defense," claiming that Venezuela may not be the last country subject to US intervention, according to The Atlantic.
"We do need Greenland, absolutely," Trump said in a phone interview with the magazine. The island, located in the Arctic, is part of Denmark.
It was up to others to decide what the large-scale US strike against Venezuela means to Greenland, Trump said.
"They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don't know," Trump said. "You know, I wasn't referring to Greenland at that time. But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense."
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday that the United States has no right to annex Greenland, urging Washington to stop making threats against a close ally and the Greenlandic people.
"I have to say it very directly to the United States," Frederiksen said in a statement. She rejected the idea that it would be necessary for the United States to take over Greenland, stressing that "the United States has no right to annex" any of the three parts of the Danish Realm -- Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Throughout last year, Trump has frequently repeated the same call for the United States to take over Greenland, which triggered strong objections from Greenland, Denmark and the European Union.
The Trump administration has cited a combination of national security concerns, Arctic strategy, and the potential of critical minerals and natural resources as drivers of US interest in controlling Greenland.
Trump said on Saturday the United States will "run" Venezuela after the US military raided the country and took Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife by force.
The international community is deeply shocked by the Trump administration's raid on Venezuela and Maduro. Many countries have issued statements strongly condemning the blatant use of force against a sovereign state and action against its president.
CARACAS - Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez held on Sunday her first cabinet meeting since the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by the United States, state TV reported.
A day earlier, the country's top court has ordered Rodriguez, Maduro's vice president, to assume role of acting president.
China and the international community have expressed strong opposition after the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and US President Donald Trump said the US will "run" the Latin American country.
A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry called on Sunday for the immediate release of Maduro, who was in custody at a New York detention center, and his wife.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the US strikes on Venezuela set "a dangerous precedent". The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Monday regarding the matter.
Maduro and his wife, captured from their home on a Venezuelan military base, were first taken away aboard a US warship. A plane carrying the leader then landed in New York on Saturday evening.
Maduro was questioned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn in connection with allegations of "drug trafficking", according to media reports.
At least 40 people were killed in the US attack, including military personnel and civilians, The New York Times reported on Sunday, citing a senior Venezuelan official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Venezuela announced a state of national emergency and denounced the "military aggression", with Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez reportedly slamming the "kidnapping" of Maduro, saying he is "the only president of Venezuela".
China expressed grave concern over the US move.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday in Beijing that China has never believed that any country has the right to act as "international police", nor does it accept that any country can style itself as an "international judge". He emphasized that the sovereignty and security of all countries must be fully protected under international law.
Noting that the sudden escalation of the situation in Venezuela has drawn widespread international attention, Wang said China has consistently opposed the use or threat of force in international relations and rejects imposing one country's will on others.
Meanwhile, China calls on the US to ensure the personal safety of Maduro and his wife, release them at once, stop toppling the government of Venezuela, and resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation, the ministry spokesperson said.
The spokesperson urged Washington to abide by international law as well as the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and stop violating other countries' sovereignty and security.
UN Secretary-General Guterres is "deeply alarmed" by the US military action in Venezuela, his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said on Saturday.
"These developments constitute a dangerous precedent," Dujarric said in a statement.
"The ?secretary-general continues to emphasize the importance of full respect — by all — of international law, including the UN Charter. He's deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected," Dujarric said.
Meanwhile, during a news conference on Saturday ?at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the US president said, "We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition" in Venezuela.
Trump offered no timeline for how long such a transition of power was expected to take.
A US occupation "won't cost us anything", Trump said, because the US would be reimbursed from the "money coming out of the ground", a reference to Venezuela's oil reserves.
Trump said that US energy companies would rebuild Venezuela's broken infrastructure under US supervision.
In a letter to the UN Security Council on Saturday, Venezuela's UN Ambassador Samuel Moncada described the operation as a "deadly and treacherous US military attack" against "a country that is at peace", warning that the attack "has serious implications for regional and international peace and security".
He said the US had violated the UN Charter, citing its provision that "all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state".
In a separate letter to the Security Council's president for January, which is Somalia, Venezuela's Permanent Mission to the United Nations condemned what it called "brutal, unjustified and unilateral" US armed attacks.
Spanish Prime ?Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on social media platform X that Spain will not "recognize an intervention that violates international law and pushes the region toward a horizon of uncertainty and belligerence".
During a phone call on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov strongly condemned the US aggression against Venezuela, stressing that Moscow and Minsk are united in condemning actions in violation of international legal norms.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, "The military operation that led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro violates the principle of not resorting to force", a principle that he said "underpins international law".
"International law prohibits the use of force as a means of national policy," Marc Weller, program director of London think tank Chatham House's International Law Programme, said in a post on Chatham House's website on Saturday.
Short of a UN Chapter VII mandate, force is generally lawful only "in response to an armed attack" or possibly to rescue a population facing "imminent threat of extermination", he said.
"Clearly, none of these requirements are fulfilled" by the US operation against Venezuela, he said, adding that US interests in stopping drugs, or portraying the Maduro government as a criminal enterprise, offers "no legal justification".
Roxanna Vigil, an?international affairs fellow?in national security at the New York-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations, noted that Trump did not indicate the US government would prioritize new elections or offer a concrete vision of a future democratic Venezuela.
"Without a clear democratic road map, the United States is beginning a new open-ended foreign occupation focused primarily on oil," Vigil wrote in a post on the think tank's website.
Agencies contributed to this report.
Contact the writers at zhaohuanxin@chinadaily.com.cn
PYONGYANG - The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday condemned the US latest actions against Venezuela for violating the country's sovereignty, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
"The DPRK Foreign Ministry strongly denounces the US hegemony-seeking act committed in Venezuela as the most serious form of encroachment of sovereignty and as a wanton violation of the UN Charter and international laws," a ministry spokesperson was quoted by the KCNA as saying.
The spokesperson said the current situation stems from US high-handed actions, which have further destabilized an already fragile regional situation. The latest US moves against the Latin American country were cited as "another example that clearly confirms once again the rogue and brutal nature of the United States."
The international community should recognize the seriousness of the present situation and voice protest and condemnation against the US habituated violation of other countries' sovereignty, the spokesperson added.
Protesters gathered outside the White House in Washington, D.C., to oppose the US military action in Venezuela, following US President Donald Trump's announcement of the capture of the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro.
NEW YORK - Hundreds of people took to the streets of Manhattan on Saturday to protest against the US military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The march was part of nationwide "No war on Venezuela" demonstrations in more than 100 US cities, including Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and Miami.
Protesters gathered in Times Square, waving signs that read "Hands off Venezuela," "US out of Caribbean," "No war for Venezuelan oil," and "Defend Venezuela against US imperialism." Chants of "Defend Venezuela, Free Maduro" echoed through the crowd.
"This war is not about drugs, it is about Venezuela's oil," said Karen, a middle-aged New Yorker in the march.
"How do you have the right to step in Venezuela, to attack Venezuela?" she said. "It feels like we act as criminals."
"We are here to say that this is an unjust action," she added.
Hassan, a college student from Pakistan, said US-led government change efforts abroad were not new, "but at least it wore a mask, like in the name of restoring democracy in the Middle East."
"However, today it takes the mask off," Hassan said. "This is quite nakedly about oil and natural resources."
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that his country has struck Venezuela and captured its President Maduro, who was flown out of the country along with his wife.
Trump said that the United States will "run" Venezuela until "a safe, proper and judicious transition."
"This is not gonna happen," one speaker at the Times Square rally said in response. "It's arrogance."
"Listen to what Trump said today when he said, 'we want all your oil, all your land, all your assets, turn it over to us,'" the speaker added.
"The Venezuelan people will not accept the United States running their country or stealing their oil, gas, gold, or any resources. There will be strong resistance," she said. "No, that age is over."
One of the organizers, Answer Coalition, which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, condemned the latest US bombing of Caracas and the capture of Maduro, calling on Americans to "say no to another endless war."
"A US war would cause death and destruction to the people of Venezuela. The war machine consumes an unimaginable amount of our tax dollars while working families struggle to make ends meet," the anti-war group said in a statement. "The people need to take to the streets and say no to Trump's war on Venezuela!"
Countries around the world condemned the United States' latest military action in Venezuela on Saturday, after Washington reportedly "captured" President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and flew them to New York. The move has sent shock waves through the international community, with many voices strongly denouncing what they described as a blatant use of force against a sovereign state and a threat to the peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Communist Party of Kenya has condemned the US invasion of Venezuela, labeling it an illegal and imperialist act.
The party also expressed concern over what it said are threats by US President Donald Trump and his Western allies to invade Iran by interfering in its internal affairs.
Mwandawiro Mghanga, the party chairperson, called on the international community to condemn the actions, warning against a repeat of history.
"We should remember history and the rise of fascism led by Adolf Hitler," he said. "Today it is Venezuela, Iran and Cuba, but tomorrow it will be the whole world including Africa, Latin America, Europe, Asia and USA itself."
Mghanga emphasized that repeating such historical mistakes would be costly, reinforcing the party's support for Venezuela, Cuba and Iran.
"The Communist Party of Kenya calls upon all progressives in Kenya and globally to rise up, hold demonstrations, and show solidarity with the popular leadership of Venezuela; and to condemn in no uncertain terms, the imperialist invasion of Venezuela by the US," he said.
WASHINGTON - At least 40 people were killed in US airstrikes on Venezuela on Saturday, including civilians and members of the armed forces, The New York Times reported, citing an anonymous senior Venezuelan official.
The large-scale attack took place in the early hours of the morning as US forces carried out an operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. The couple is now in custody in New York.
The newspaper said it had verified video footage showing thick smoke and repeated explosions near La Carlota Airport in the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas.
In Catia La Mar, a city west of the capital, an airstrike hit a three-story civilian apartment building, blowing out its exterior walls, said the newspaper, noting at least one elderly woman was killed, and another person seriously injured.
Multiple US media outlets, citing Venezuelan government sources, reported that in addition to Caracas, military targets in the Caribbean coastal states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira were also struck.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said earlier on Saturday that both civilians and military personnel were among the casualties but did not provide specific figures.
US President Donald Trump told Fox News in an interview on Saturday that during the operation to seize Maduro, some US personnel were injured, but no American troops were killed.
One US military aircraft was damaged, he added.
China has called on the United States to release Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife at once and stop toppling the government of Venezuela, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
Reports emerged on Saturday that the US had deployed forces to seize Maduro and his wife and forcibly take them out of the country, igniting widespread opposition from multiple countries.
In an online statement, China expressed grave concern over the US' move, describing it as a clear violation of international law, basic norms in international relations, and the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.
The spokesperson called on Washington to ensure the personal safety of Maduro and his wife, and urged that issues be resolved through dialogue and negotiation.
The year 2026 has certainly begun with a bang! The US administration's illegal invasion of Venezuela and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on, as yet, trumped up, unsubstantiated charges, are symptomatic of the United States' Monroe Doctrine of 1823 — a US foreign policy named after former president James Monroe that viewed Latin America as the US' exclusive sphere of influence — and the days of earlier US gunboat imperialism that warned European powers to stay away from the Americas, because it defined the entire hemisphere to be in the US' sphere of influence.
The US' intervention in Venezuela and likely future ones in the region were made clear in US President Donald Trump's 2025 National Security Strategy released on Dec 4, which established what it calls the "Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine. The NSS asserts that the US must be "preeminent in the Western Hemisphere as a condition for our security and prosperity", allowing the US to "assert ourselves with confidence where and when necessary".
The NSS framework prioritizes several relevant objectives: controlling critical supply chains, ensuring continued access to key strategic locations, preventing "hostile foreign incursions", defeating drug cartels that they've classified, without evidence, as terrorist organizations, stopping "illegal and destabilizing migration", and countering Chinese and Russian influence in the region.
The NSS strategy crows that "the military system superior to any other country in the world" would be used to gain access to the region's energy and mineral resources.
This represents a seismic shift. Recent US administrations generally relied on agreements, benefits and occasional coercion. Now the emphasis seems to be on outright domination through military force, tariff wars and interventions without regard to international law.
Will the US administration stop at Venezuela? The US invasion of a sovereign nation has violated international law and endangered other Latin American countries. The US president has already sent warnings to other countries including Cuba.
Cuba represents a high-probability target. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's father was a Cuban exile, and like most former Cubans in the US and their families, Rubio viscerally detests Fidel Castro's 1959 victory. Cuba's long-standing adversarial relationship with the US, its close alliance with both Venezuela and Nicaragua, and its support for Maduro's regime provide clear motivations for US intervention.
Nicaragua? Rubio has also explicitly designated the husband-and-wife Daniel Ortega-Rosario Murillo regime as an "enemy of humanity", placing it in the same category as Venezuela and Cuba. In fact, during his February 2025 visit to Central America, Rubio emphasized that Trump opposes the "regimes" of Maduro, Miguel Díaz-Canel in Cuba, and Ortega-Murillo in Nicaragua, describing these three governments as responsible for creating the US immigration crisis.
President Gustavo Petro in neighboring Colombia, announced that security forces were deployed along the border to prepare for a possible refugee influx. Petro condemned the attack as an aggression against Venezuela and Latin America, urging de-escalation.
Ancient Roman emperors used bread and circuses to divert attention from political failures and misadventures. Modern politicians have often used wars to deflect attention from their shortcomings in what's termed a diversionary "wag the dog" strategy. With domestic opposition growing in the run-up to congressional, state and local elections in November, the US administration may just be beginning to borrow a page from this strategic playbook.
The author is a US scholar and a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.
The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.
If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.
CARACAS - Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice on late Saturday ordered Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to immediately assume the role of acting president after President Nicolas Maduro's capture.
The judiciary's decision was read on national radio and television by the court's magistrate Tania D'Amelio.
"It is ordered that the citizen Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez, executive vice-president of the republic, assume and exercise in the capacity of acting President, all the powers, duties and faculties inherent to the position of President," said the supreme court decision.
The order also said that Rodriguez's role as acting president "should be exercised immediately."
Meanwhile, the court said it rejects and condemns the extremely serious military aggression carried out by the United States against the people and territory of Venezuela, as well as the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife.
It added that the US action flagrantly violates the Constitution and laws of Venezuela, as well as international law and the Charter of the United Nations, with the aim of seizing Venezuela's strategic resources.
The court said it stands with the Venezuelan people in defending national independence and sovereignty, and called on all parties to make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in a large-scale US military operation against Venezuela early Saturday morning and were flown to New York.
China is deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the United States' blatant use of force against Venezuela, including airstrikes against both civilian and military sites in at least four states of the country and the seizure of the country's president.
Such hegemonic acts seriously violate international law and Venezuela's sovereignty, threaten peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region, and set a dangerous precedent for international relations.
The excuse offered by Washington — that of "counter-narcotics" — does not and cannot legitimize the invasion of a capital city, the bombing of sovereign territory, or the removal of a head of state. Such reasoning, if accepted, would grant powerful nations a universal license for military intervention, running directly counter to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.
Triumphantly announcing that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were "captured and flown out of the Country" , US President Donald Trump said that the US would "run" Venezuela on "a temporary basis" to "get the oil flowing", making clear the motivation for the US aggression.
The United Nations has added its voice to the chorus of condemnation, with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressing grave concern at the US' disregard for international law, saying that the developments are deeply troubling. Russia also said it was "extremely alarmed" by the US' "act of armed aggression". These remarks reflect the shared shock and opprobrium of the international community.
The strong responses worldwide, including those of some US allies and partners, to the US' "Operation Absolute Resolve" in Venezuela underscores a broad recognition that the use of force against a sovereign state is wrong.
History offers sobering lessons. External military interventions that seek regime change have repeatedly plunged countries into prolonged instability, humanitarian suffering and regional spillover. Violence may topple power structures overnight, but it cannot rebuild societies or win the trust of the people. What it does instead is to fracture states, inflame grievances and sow the seeds of enduring conflict.
The US' unjustifiable aggression destroys any moral authority it may have claimed. International rules apply to all, not only to some. When the strongest choose to disregard the law, the fence of rules is weakened for everyone. Such double standards hollow out international law and invite a world where might makes right — an outcome no country, especially those committed to peace and development, should accept.
China firmly opposes any act that violates another country's sovereignty and security. It calls on the US to abide by international law and the UN Charter, cease its military adventurism, and return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy. The future of Venezuela must be decided by its people, not imposed from outside. Upholding international law is not optional; it is the foundation of global stability.
Power politics cannot be dressed up as legality. Coercion cannot substitute for diplomacy. The core tenets of sovereign equality and non-interference are not negotiable; they are the essential safeguards against global chaos.
MOSCOW -- Russia's Foreign Ministry denied that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is in Russia, saying such claim by some media organizations is "fake news," TASS reported on Saturday, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Earlier, Spanish news agencies 20 minutos, The Objective and Vozpopuli reported that after the US attack on Caracas, Delcy Rodriguez gave an interview to the Venezuelan state TV channel VTV over the phone from Moscow.
Reuters confirmed this information, citing its sources.
Later, Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, citing Venezuela's national press, reported that Rodriguez is still in Venezuela.
On Saturday, Venezuela's Supreme Court ordered Rodriguez to assume the role of acting president following Maduro's capture.
BRASILIA -- Brazil's interim Foreign Minister Maria Laura da Rocha on Saturday said Brazil recognizes Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as the head of state in the absence of President Nicolas Maduro.
She added Brazil will continue to support international law, and all countries in safeguarding their sovereignty, and oppose any form of territorial aggression.
On the same day, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reiterated his previous position and condemned the US attack on Venezuela as well as the capture of Maduro and his wife.
Defense Minister Jose Mucio said the situation in Roraima state, which borders Venezuela, remains stable.
He added that Brazil has deployed 10,000 military personnel in the Amazon region, with 2,300 stationed in Roraima.
NEW YORK -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were captured in a large-scale US military strike on Venezuela early Saturday morning, will be sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York, according to a report by CNN.
The military aircraft carrying the couple landed at the Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York State around 5 pm (2200 GMT) on Saturday afternoon, according to multiple reports and video footage.
Maduro and a few others will face charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices next week in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to an unsealed indictment released by the US Department of Justice on Saturday.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he called US President Donald Trump directly on Saturday to express his opposition to "a pursuit of regime change to the violation of federal, international law." Some people demonstrated against the US military action in Venezuela outside the Newburgh air base.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez demanded the "immediate release" of the Maduro couple at a session of the National Defense Council broadcast by a state television channel on Saturday.
