CARACAS, Venezuela — Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in Monday as Venezuela’s interim president at the National Assembly after U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores in a nighttime operation. The Delcy Rodriguez surge has turned a succession scramble into a regional flashpoint, with Washington calling the raid a lawful mission and Venezuela’s ruling party calling it an attack on sovereignty, Jan. 5, 2026.
Rodríguez, 56, took the oath from National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, her brother, as lawmakers began a new term shaped by an opposition boycott of last May’s vote and the absence of Flores, now in U.S. custody, Reuters reported. The Delcy Rodriguez surge was on display in the chamber: pro-government lawmakers framed her as the constitutional successor while demanding Maduro’s return.
Maduro, flown to the United States after his seizure, made his first court appearance in Manhattan and pleaded not guilty. “I am here kidnapped,” he said through an interpreter, according to The Washington Post, which reported the case is expected to raise questions about the legality of his capture and claims of sovereign immunity.
In Caracas, Rodríguez denounced the operation as “an illegitimate military aggression” and said she took office “with sorrow for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people,” The Associated Press reported. Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, warned lawmakers that “no country is safe” if the detention of a head of state becomes normalized.
Delcy Rodriguez surge and the fight for legitimacy
Venezuela’s Supreme Court ordered Rodríguez to assume the presidency to “guarantee administrative continuity” while it debates the legal framework for governance after Maduro’s forced absence, according to Reuters. The court treated Maduro’s absence as temporary, a move that complicates demands for an immediate election even as opposition figures argue the constitution requires a quicker return to the ballot box.
U.S. officials have sent mixed signals about what they want next. Trump said the United States would temporarily “run” Venezuela, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would not govern day-to-day beyond enforcing an oil “quarantine,” the AP reported. Inside the country, heightened patrols and reports of detentions have fueled fears that the Delcy Rodriguez surge could coincide with a broader security crackdown.
A rise years in the making
The Delcy Rodriguez surge did not start this week. Maduro elevated her in June 2018, naming the then-constituent assembly chief as vice president during a cabinet reshuffle after his disputed re-election, Reuters reported at the time.
Days later, the European Union imposed sanctions on Rodríguez and other senior officials amid concerns about democratic backsliding and the sidelining of the opposition-led legislature, according to a separate Reuters report. That history now shadows the interim presidency, as foreign governments weigh whether the Delcy Rodriguez surge represents continuity, a transition or a reset forced from abroad.
