Venezuela’s vice president delivered a combative address on Saturday, hours after the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured by the United States, accusing Washington of leading an operation with a “Zionist tint.”
Delcy Rodríguez convened an emergency meeting of the National Defense Council, saying that “the governments of the world are simply shocked that it is the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which is the victim and subject of an attack of this nature, which has, without a doubt, a Zionist tint.”
Rodríguez demanded the couple’s immediate release, claimed the U.S. military action aimed to seize control of Venezuela’s energy resources and announced the military’s deployment across major cities.
She urged citizens to take to the streets in defense of the government and thanked allied nations for their support during what she described as a foreign assault on the country’s sovereignty.
Iran’s state-run Al-Alam TV reported on Sunday that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi spoke by phone with his Venezuelan counterpart to discuss recent events in Caracas and condemned the American attack during the call.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced via his Truth Social platform on Saturday that the U.S. military had carried out a “large-scale strike” against Venezuela overnight on Friday, and had captured Maduro and Flores.
Maduro and his spouse were flown out of the country and transported to New York City to face federal charges of involvement in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
