One week after claiming that United States forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump has escalated tensions by declaring himself the “acting president of Venezuela” in a controversial social media post.
On Sunday, Mr Trump shared a doctored image on his Truth Social platform portraying himself as Venezuela’s acting leader, styled to resemble a Wikipedia biography page. The post stated that he assumed the role in January 2026, following what he described as a U.S. special forces operation that removed Mr Maduro from power.
Speaking earlier at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Mr Trump said the United States would assume control of Venezuela during a transitional period.
“We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he told reporters. “We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and end up with the same situation we’ve had for a long period of years.”
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Alleged Night-Time Operation
According to Mr Trump, the operation was carried out by U.S. Delta Force troops, who allegedly apprehended Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a night-time helicopter raid on their residence inside a military base in Caracas. He said the couple were flown out of the country aboard a U.S. military helicopter and later transferred to the USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean.
Mr Trump claimed both Mr Maduro and Ms Flores are being extradited to the United States to face charges related to narco-terrorism. He said the mission had been planned days earlier but was delayed by weather conditions, adding that no U.S. personnel were killed, though some sustained injuries and were evacuated.
The White House has not provided independent verification of the operation, and Venezuelan authorities had not publicly responded to the claims at the time of filing this report.
Interim Leadership and Oil Demands
Following Mr Trump’s announcement, Venezuela’s Vice President and Oil Minister, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as interim president, according to U.S. accounts. Mr Trump described Rodríguez as “gracious” but warned that she would fare “probably worse” than Mr Maduro if she failed to cooperate with Washington.
The U.S. president said Venezuela would turn over between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States and demanded that Caracas sever ties with China, Cuba, Russia, and Iran. He added that Venezuela should partner exclusively with the U.S. on oil production.
Ms Rodríguez reportedly said Venezuela would open its oil market to American companies.
Mr Trump also announced plans for U.S. energy firms to invest billions of dollars in Venezuela’s oil sector. “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies go in, fix the badly broken infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” he said.
Warnings and Military Options
Standing alongside Mr Trump at the press briefing were senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom the president said would help oversee the interim administration.
Mr Trump did not rule out deploying additional U.S. troops to Venezuela and issued a warning to remaining political and military leaders in the country.
“All political and military figures should bear in mind that what happened to Maduro could happen to them,” he said, adding that further military action remained an option “if we need to do so.”
The developments have sparked international concern, with analysts warning that the claims — if substantiated — would mark an unprecedented escalation in U.S. involvement in Latin America and raise serious questions about international law and sovereignty.
As of publication, no independent confirmation had been provided by U.S. defense officials, and Venezuela’s government had yet to issue an official response.
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