The government in Venezuela continues to view Maduro as the legitimate president. According to the Venezuelan constitution, if the president is permanently absent, the vice president takes over the office and calls new elections within 30 days. It is unclear whether the new leadership views the situation as a permanent absence.
According to US President Donald Trump, there will be no new elections in the next 30 days. “We have to put the country back in order first. You can’t have elections,” he told NBC News.
At a special session of the UN Security Council, Venezuela, Russia and China called for Maduro’s release and described the US actions as violating international law. Russia’s UN ambassador called it “a harbinger of a return to an era of lawlessness and US dominance through violence, chaos and arbitrariness.” Britain, countries close to the EU, Panama and Chile said Maduro was not legitimate as president, but neither was the US attack. They called for a peaceful transition from within Venezuelan society to a democratic system of government.
Rodríguez is considered one of the most loyal figures in Maduro’s power circle. As Foreign Minister (2014–2017), the convinced socialist shaped the confrontational course against the USA, which she continued as Vice President. Even after the US military strike at the weekend, she initially remained inflexible. The powerful military publicly supported them. She later expressed her willingness to work with the USA. “Our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war,” she wrote to Trump.
According to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, almost 200 US troops were involved in the US attack in Caracas. He did not say whether they were all soldiers. According to earlier information, the Federal Police FBI and elite units of the armed forces were also involved in the operation in Caracas.
