Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was in a New York jail on Saturday, hours after US special forces seized him and flew him out of his country — which US President Donald Trump said would come under effective US control.
Trump’s announcement followed a predawn raid in which commandos grabbed Maduro and his wife while air strikes pounded sites in and around Caracas.
A US government plane carrying Maduro landed at a military base shortly after nightfall, and he was transported by helicopter to New York City, where the couple were to be arraigned on drug trafficking and weapons charges.
Photo: AFP PHOTO / X account of Rapid Response 47
The White House posted a video on social media of Maduro, handcuffed and in sandals, escorted by federal agents through a US Drug Enforcement Administration facility in New York.
“Good night, happy new year,” the 63-year-old is heard saying in English.
WHAT NEXT?
Despite the success of the risky raid, what happens next is highly uncertain.
Trump said he was “designating people” from his Cabinet to be in charge in Venezuela, but gave no further details.
In another surprise, Trump indicated US troops could be deployed, saying Washington is “not afraid of boots on the ground.”
However, he appeared to reject the possibility of the country’s opposition taking power and said he could work instead with Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez.
One aspect that became clearer was Trump’s interest in Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies... go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure,” he said. “We’ll be selling large amounts of oil.”
US-backed opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, posted on social media that “the hour of freedom has arrived.”
She called for the opposition’s 2024 election candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, to “immediately” assume the presidency.
Trump was surprisingly cold about expectations that Machado could become Venezuela’s new leader, saying she does not have “support or respect” there.
Instead, he touted Rodriguez, saying: “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
Rodriguez poured cold water on that, demanding Maduro’s release and vowing to “defend” the country.
Late on Saturday, Venezuela’s Supreme Court ordered Rodriguez to assume presidential powers “in an acting capacity.”
Reflecting the confusion, Trump indicated US involvement is likely for the long haul.
“We’re going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place,” he said.
REACTIONS
Venezuela’s ally China said it “strongly condemns” the US operation, and called for Maduro to be “immediately released.”
“The US’s move is in clear violation of international law, basic norms in international relations, and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
Meanwhile, France warned a solution cannot “be imposed from outside.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected.”
At Venezuela’s request, the UN Security Council is to meet today to discuss the crisis, the Somali presidency of the council said.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
RSS