This is just in. Venezuela’s Supreme Court has appointed the Vice President under Nicolas Maduro as the interim President. The move by the Supreme Court comes less than 24 hours after U.S. Special Forces captured former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Reuters broke the story and provided the following details: The Constitutional Chamber of Venezuela’s Supreme Court ordered on Saturday that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assume the role of acting president of the country in the absence of Nicolás Maduro, who was detained early Saturday morning in an operation by U.S. forces. The court ruling said that Rodríguez would assume “the office of President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in order to guarantee administrative continuity and the comprehensive defense of the Nation.” Here she is: BREAKING: Venezuela’s Supreme Court appoints Delcy Rodríguez as acting president pic.twitter.com/u3dVh3apLS — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 4, 2026 The Associated Press reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already been in contact with the now President of Venezuela: Venezuelans on Saturday scrambled to understand who was in charge of their country after the U.S. military captured President Nicolás Maduro, ousting the strongman who had outlasted a botched coup attempt, several army mutinies, mass protests and economic sanctions in the vast nation of 29 million. “What will happen tomorrow?” asked Juan Pablo Petrone, a resident of Venezuela’s capital of Caracas. As fear gripped the city, streets quickly emptied save for long lines snaking from supermarkets and gas stations. “What will happen in the next hour?” President Donald Trump offered a shocking answer: The United States would take control of Venezuela, perhaps in coordination with one of Maduro’s most trusted aides. Delcy Rodríguez, who is next in the presidential line of succession, served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, overseeing much of Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy as well as its feared intelligence service. On Saturday, Venezuela’s high court ordered her to assume the role of interim president. “She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump told reporters of Rodríguez, who faced U.S. sanctions during Trump’s first administration for her role in undermining Venezuelan democracy. In a major snub, Trump said opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, didn’t have the support to run the country. Trump said Rodríguez had a long conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in which Trump claimed she said, “‘We’ll do whatever you need.’” “I think she was quite gracious,” Trump added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”