In a nationally televised address on Saturday, Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, confirmed for the first time that President Nicolás Maduro and the first lady, Cilia Flores, had been captured during what she called an “unprecedented military aggression” by the United States, and demanded their “immediate and unconditional” release.

The statement — delivered alongside senior officials from Venezuela’s legislature, judiciary, military command and security apparatus — sought to project continuity of the state after the sudden removal of the country’s head of government. “There is only one president in this country and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros,” Rodríguez said, describing the operation as an “illegal and illegitimate kidnapping” intended to force regime change and seize Venezuela’s natural resources.

Her remarks came as Mr. Maduro, now in U.S. custody, began appearing in federal court in Manhattan, where he declared himself “innocent” and insisted he remained Venezuela’s president. His lawyers signaled they would challenge the legality of his capture and argue that he is entitled to protections traditionally afforded to a sitting head of state.

A government mobilizes, and a message hardens

Rodríguez said Venezuela had convened an emergency national defense council and “activated” the country’s security services and armed forces across the national territory. Her government’s presentation was choreographed for domestic and international audiences: senior figures stood in formation behind her; a constitutional process was invoked; and the language emphasized sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity.

The vice president also attempted to frame the crisis as larger than Mr. Maduro’s fate, warning that if the United States could seize a foreign leader by force, “they could do it to anyone.” That argument — rooted in the U.N. Charter’s prohibition on the use of force against another state’s territorial integrity — has become a central line for governments condemning the American operation.

Yet Rodríguez’s speech also revealed the political reality inside Venezuela: the leadership around Mr. Maduro is now tasked with preserving control at home while simultaneously confronting a situation in which the United States says it has removed the country’s leader and intends to shape what comes next.

The U.S. says it will “run” Venezuela; the world reacts

President Trump has described the operation as a decisive strike against alleged narcotrafficking networks and has claimed the United States will oversee Venezuela “for now,” while moving quickly to rehabilitate oil infrastructure and expand exports.

Those statements have intensified fears — particularly in Latin America — that the intervention is about far more than criminal allegations. In her speech, Rodríguez explicitly linked “regime change” to the “complete capture” of Venezuela’s energy and mineral resources. Her accusation echoed language circulating among several governments that have denounced the operation as a violation of international law and a return to a darker era of hemispheric intervention.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to take up the matter, amid calls for de-escalation and warnings that the action sets a dangerous precedent.

In court, Maduro insists he is still president

In the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Maduro appeared in shackles and told a federal judge, through an interpreter, “I am innocent… I am still president of my country.” His attorney raised “issues about the legality of his military abduction,” a preview of a defense strategy that could turn a criminal prosecution into a test case about sovereign immunity, the reach of U.S. courts, and the legality of the operation that brought him to New York. ABC News

The courtroom scene underscored the collision of two narratives. The United States is treating Mr. Maduro as a defendant in a major narcotrafficking case; Venezuela’s current leadership is treating him as the country’s legitimate president and a captive seized by force.

What comes next inside Venezuela

Rodríguez has been described by outside observers as the most powerful figure still operating inside the country and — in practical terms — the face of the Venezuelan state for as long as Mr. Maduro remains detained abroad. Her government’s immediate priorities are likely to be stabilizing the security situation, demonstrating control over the armed forces, and preventing splintering within the ruling coalition.

But the political terrain is volatile. The crisis introduces three destabilizing pressures at once:

• Legitimacy: Caracas is insisting Mr. Maduro remains president even as Washington treats him as an accused criminal. This gap makes ordinary governance — from international recognition to financial transactions — more uncertain.

• Security: Venezuelan officials say forces have been mobilized nationwide and that civilian areas were struck. Even limited clashes could trigger a broader conflict or humanitarian displacement.

• Diplomacy and economics: The U.S. has signaled it intends to redirect Venezuelan oil policy; Venezuela’s allies and creditors are scrambling to assess what happens to contracts, debt obligations and assets. 

For now, Rodríguez is betting that a posture of unity and mobilization can deter further escalation and rally support abroad. Whether that strategy succeeds will depend not only on Venezuelan domestic cohesion but also on how aggressively the United States pursues a reshaping of the country’s political order — and whether major international actors can translate condemnation into constraints.

What is already clear is that the facts on the ground have changed faster than diplomacy can absorb. Venezuela’s leadership is describing a kidnapping; the United States is describing a lawful capture; and the dispute is moving simultaneously through a Manhattan courtroom and the world’s highest diplomatic forums.