The Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, confirmed Nicolás Maduro as the only president of the country on Saturday, after his capture by the government of Donald Trump in the early hours of the day [Jan. 3]. At the same time, in multiple parts of Venezuela, citizens mobilized to denounce the attack perpetrated as part of the [US] kidnapping operation and to demand the proof of life of the president and his wife, Cilia Flores, who arrived in New York after being captured by U.S. militias [Special Forces].The Independent’s Sam Kiley warns that lots of things could go really badly in what looks like a regime-change operation with no actual plan for the new regime, e.g., who will nominally be in charge as Trump’s viceroy government. Or whatever it is that he and Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth may actually have in mind. (2)
In a press conference from the Miraflores Palace, Delcy Rodríguez declared: "There is only one president of this country and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros." She also described the capture operation as "an illegitimate and illegal kidnapping" and called for the immediate release of Maduro and the First Lady. [emphasis in original] (1)
Kiley takes a bit of a cheap shot at European leaders, “In Nato there will be horror. But one can be sure that the supine grovelling that has characterised the behaviour of Nato’s leadership towards Trump and Hegseth will continue.” The public diplomatic “grovelling” will likely continue because Europe (including Britain) is urgently focusesd on forming defense plans that don’t depend on the NATO structure that has always been dominated by the US.
And European leaders are very aware that the US Peace President has been threatening to seize Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, to be controlled by the US. Focusing on deterring – and preparing to respond to – an attempted US seizure of Greenland will take priority over diplomatic protests over Venezuela. But that threat to Denmark also gives European leaders incentive to be careful about sounding like they endorse the Trump team’s project to turn Venezuela into a colony. As Kiley puts it in explaining Europe’s initial diplomatic caution:
Doing otherwise would be to acknowledge that Donald Trump has swung America first from being a friend, then to being an unreliable ally, and now, in the dawn of 2026, Trump’s America is a threat.And he rightly warns:
He said he would attack Venezuela’s mainland, and he has.
His claim to be knocking over a narco-terrorist state that has exported vast quantities of opiates to the US, and killed hundreds of thousands of its citizens, is nonsense. Opiates get into the US from Mexico, not Venezuela.
As a premise for regime change and invasion, it is as false as the claims that Saddam Hussein was making a nuclear weapon. The invasion of that nation set off decades of pain and murder, terror and mayhem, and gave birth to Isis. It also tore at the fabric of Western democracies, as some ripped up ethics and their own laws to hunt down alleged terrorists. [my emphasis]Latin American leaders that are led by people who are not Trump toadies like Argentine President Javier Milei are taking the threat very seriously. Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum (whose country Trump has also threatened to invade militarily), Brazil’s Lula de Silva, and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro (also threatened with military aggression by Trump) have all condemned the US kidnapping of Venezuela’s Maduro. They are responding to the clear violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty and international law, not endorsing Maduro’s authoritarian type of rule. (It’s worth recalling that Maduro was first legitimately elected as Venezuela’s President and the rightwingers’ characterization of his predecessor Hugo Chávez as a dictator is frivolous.)
[Former Mexican President AMLO (Andrés Manuel López Obrador)] he reappeared this Saturday to warn that neither Simon Bolivar nor Abraham Lincoln would accept the United States acting as a "world tyranny," and affirmed that his libertarian convictions prevent him from remaining silent in the face of what he described as an attack on Venezuelan sovereignty. "President Trump: don't indulge in self-complacency or listen to the sirens' song. To hell with the hawks; you have the capacity to act with practical judgment," AMLO said on his X account. (3)AMLO was being generous even there in his suggestion that Trump has “the capacity to act with practical judgment.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose country Trump has threatened to annex, responded with diplomatic caution:
He called for a “peaceful, negotiated, and Venezuelan-led transition process that respects the democratic will of the Venezuelan people.” He also said Canada calls “on all parties to respect international law” and that the country “attaches great importance to resolution of crises through multilateral engagement.” (4)Richard Haass, who as the former longtime President of the Council on Foreign Relations has impeccably “establishment” diplomatic credentials, discussed Saturday’s US attack on Venezuela in an interview. Let’s just say he’s skeptical of the prospects for this turning out well. (5)
Notes:
(1) Venezuela resiste a la captura de Nicolás Maduro. Página/12 04.01.2026. <https://www.pagina12.com.ar/2026/01/04/rechazo-en-venezuela-a-la-captura-de-nicolas-maduro/> (Accessed: 2026-04-01). My translation to English.
(2) Kiley, Sam (2026): This is the moment that Donald Trump unleashed anarchy. Independent 01/03/2026.<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezuela-trump-maduro-captured-caracas-invasion-b2894105.html> (Accessed: 2026-04-01).
(3) Latinoamérica repudió el ataque de Estados Unidos a Venezuela. Página/12 04.01.2026. <https://www.pagina12.com.ar/2026/01/03/latinoamerica-repudio-el-ataque-de-estados-unidos-a-venezuela/> (Accessed: 2026-04-01). My translation to English.
(4) Mark Carney urges Venezuelan-led transition following Maduro's capture. Politico 01/03/2026. <https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/03/canada-mark-carney-venezuela-reaction-00710081> (Accessed: 2026-04-01).
(5) Trump Strikes Venezuela — What Happens Now? - Katie Couric & Richard Haass. Katie Couric YouTube channel 01/03/2026. <https://youtu.be/9QnnBumHI2c?si=OtBGOjUTdUCZ8D0F> (Accessed: 2026-04-01).
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