Venezuela’s New President!
Caracas, Jan 5 (EFE). –
Venezuela ‘s executive vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as acting president on Monday, two days after President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured by US forces.
Rodríguez was sworn in by her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the National Assembly (AN).
”I come with pain for the suffering caused to the Venezuelan people after an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland,” Rodríguez said during the ceremony, aired by state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).
She also denounced that Maduro and Flores are “hostages” in the US.
The new president vowed not to rest “until Venezuela is in its rightful place and on the pedestal of historical honor it deserves as a free, sovereign, and independent nation.”
Adding that she will work to “guarantee a government that provides social happiness, political stability, and political security.”
Rodríguez was summoned by the Supreme Court to serve as acting president of the country following the capture of Maduro and Flores.
She chaired her first cabinet meeting on Sunday and appointed a commission, chaired by her brother and made up of Maduro’s children, to negotiate the release of the president and his wife in the United States.
She also announced on Telegram a proposal to Washington to work on a joint “cooperation agenda.”
On Sunday, Trump demanded that Rodríguez grant “full access” to Venezuela in terms of natural and other resources, while revealing that he is considering reopening the US embassy in Caracas.
Support marches
Meanwhile, Thousands of government supporters expressed their backing for Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, in a march called to demand the release of Maduro and his wife.
Supporters of the ruling party marched through several avenues in western Caracas before gathering outside the Federal Legislative Palace, which on Monday inaugurated a new five-year term and, shortly thereafter, served as the venue for Rodríguez’s swearing-in ceremony.
“Let’s unite with Delcy Rodríguez, acting president, with (Justice Minister and second-in-command of Chavismo) Diosdado Cabello Rondón, with (Parliament Speaker) Jorge Rodríguez,” Deputy Nicolás Maduro Guerra, the president’s son, told Chavismo supporters from a stage set up near the AN.
The legislator called for “prudence,” noting that the tasks ahead “are easy, in quotation marks,” but admitted that there is “fear” after the attack carried out early Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, attendees, banners in hand, demanded the release of the president, whose photographs wearing the presidential sash he received on January 10 last year were repeated among the crowd.
Maduro and Flores were captured by US forces during the attacks in Caracas and three surrounding states and brought to a federal court in New York on Monday.
They pleaded not guilty to all four federal counts of conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess those same devices in support of criminal activities, and collaborating with organizations designated as terrorists. EFE
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