Maduro’s apparent successor, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, appeared on Venezuelan television Saturday afternoon with other top officials to decry what she called a kidnapping.
Rodriguez spoke hours after Trump said his administration had been in touch with her and that she appeared cooperative, adding that “She really doesn’t have a choice.”
Potential power vacuum
In Venezuela, the streets were mostly calm on Saturday. Soldiers patrolled some parts and small pro-Maduro crowds gathered in Caracas.
Others expressed relief. “I’m happy, I doubted for a moment that it was happening because it’s like a movie,” said merchant Carolina Pimentel, 37, in the city of Maracay. “It’s all calm now, but I feel like at any moment everyone will be out celebrating.”
At his press conference, where he was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Trump did not provide specific answers to repeated questions about how the United States would take over and run Venezuela.
“The people that are standing right behind me” — such as Rubio and Hegseth — would oversee the country, Trump said.
He said he was open to sending US forces into Venezuela. “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” he said.
The removal of Maduro, whom critics called a dictator as he led Venezuela with a heavy hand for more than 12 years, could open a power vacuum in the country, which is bordered by Colombia, Brazil, Guyana, and the Caribbean.
Trump said the United States has not been in contact with Machado. “She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” he said. Continue reading…
