Venezuelan military recognises Maduro's VP Delcy Rodríguez as acting president

Venezuela's military on Sunday recognised Delcy Rodríguez, deputy to ousted president Nicolás Maduro, as the country's acting leader, after US forces extracted the former head of state to New York face trial.

Amid uncertainty following the leftist president's dramatic capture, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López appeared to throw his weight behind Rodríguez, who US President Donald Trump had earlier indicated was a figure Washington could work with.

Padrino read out a statement on television endorsing a Supreme Court ruling that appointed Rodríguez as acting president for 90 days.

He also called on Venezuelans to get back to their daily life, speaking less than two days after the US strikes shook the capital Caracas and special forces seized Maduro and his wife.

Padrino denounced it as a "cowardly kidnapping" and said that some of Maduro's bodyguards were killed "in cold blood," as well as military personnel and civilians on the Venezuelan side.

Venezuelan authorities have not yet given an official toll for people hurt or killed in the US operations.

The streets of Caracas were deserted and quiet on Sunday, with many businesses closed and moderate queues at some markets and pharmacies.

"I call on the people of Venezuela to resume their activities of all kinds, economic, work and education, in the coming days," Padrino said. "The homeland must follow its constitutional course."

'Very big price'

Trump warned Rodríguez Sunday that she will pay a "very big price" if she doesn't cooperate with the United States.

"If she doesn't do what's right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro," Trump told The Atlantic in a brief telephone interview.

US forces attacked Caracas in the early hours of Saturday, bombing military targets and spiriting away Maduro and his wife to face federal narco-trafficking charges in New York.

The Trump administration says it is willing to work with the rest of Maduro's government as long as Washington's goals, including opening access to US investment in the enormous Venezuelan crude oil reserves, are met.

Rodríguez sounded a defiant note Saturday after the US raid on the capital Caracas, saying that Maduro was the country's sole legitimate leader and that "we're ready to defend our natural resources."

Trump has long campaigned against US nation building and regime change in foreign countries. However, he said Saturday that the United States will "run" Venezuela.

He told The Atlantic that "rebuilding there and regime change – anything you want to call it – is better than what you have right now."

"Rebuilding is not a bad thing in Venezuela's case," he said. "The country's gone to hell. It's a failed country. It's a totally failed country. It's a country that's a disaster in every way."

LatAm unrest

Five Latin American countries and Spain warned on Sunday against any outside bid for "control" of Venezuela, after Trump suggested Washington would "run" the country and access its oil.

Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain in a joint statement expressed their "rejection" of US forces' ousting of Maduro as Venezuela's president and "concern about any attempt at governmental control or administration or outside appropriation of natural or strategic resources."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did multiple television interviews Sunday morning to make clear that Washington is not looking for upheaval.

He said Washington is ready to work with Rodríguez and the rest of Maduro's cabinet – as long as they adhere to US demands.

"We're going to make an assessment on the basis of what they do, not what they say publicly in the interim," he told CBS News.

Underlining the lack of focus on democracy or desire to help long-backed opposition candidates to get power, Rubio told NBC it was "premature" to talk of new elections for Venezuela.

Detention centre

Maduro was at a New York detention centre ahead of an expected Manhattan court hearing on narco-trafficking charges set for Monday.

Handcuffed and in sandals, Maduro was escorted by federal agents through a Manhattan US Drug Enforcement Administration facility late Saturday, a video posted by the White House on social media showed.

"Good night, happy new year," the 63-year-old leftist was heard saying in English.

Earlier, he was photographed on board a US naval ship blindfolded and handcuffed, with noise-cancelling ear protectors.

Maduro led Venezuela with an iron fist for more than a decade through a series of elections widely considered rigged. He came to power after the death of his charismatic mentor, Hugo Chávez.

As news of his seizure rippled out, exiled Venezuelans waved flags and celebrated in plazas from Madrid to Santiago.

About eight million Venezuelans have fled the grinding poverty and political suppression of their homeland.

– TIMES/AFP