A top Venezuelan official has declared the country's government would stay unified behind President Nicolas Maduro, whose capture by the United States has sparked deep uncertainty about what is next for the oil-rich South American nation.
Maduro is in a New York detention centre awaiting a Monday court appearance on drug charges, after US President Donald Trump ordered his removal from Venezuela and said the US would take control of the country.
But in Caracas, top officials in Maduro's government, who have called the detentions of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores a kidnapping, were still in charge.
"Here, the unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed, and here there is only one president, whose name is Nicolas Maduro Moros. Let no-one fall for the enemy's provocations," interior minister Diosdado Cabello said in an audio shared by the ruling PSUV socialist party as he urged calm.
Images of the 63-year-old Maduro, blindfolded and handcuffed, stunned Venezuelans. The action is the US' most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.
Defence minister General Vladimir Padrino said on state television the US attack killed soldiers, civilians and a "large part" of Maduro's security detail "in cold blood".
Venezuela's armed forces have been activated to guarantee sovereignty, he said.
A total of 32 Cuban nationals were killed during the attack on Caracas, according to the government in Havana.
Vice president Delcy Rodriguez — who also serves as oil minister — has taken over as interim leader with the blessing of Venezuela's top court, though she has said Maduro remains president.
Because of Rodriguez's connections with the private sector and deep knowledge of oil, the country's top source of revenue, she has long been considered the most pragmatic member of Maduro's inner circle. But she has publicly contradicted Trump's claim she is willing to work with the US.
Trump said Rodriguez may pay a bigger price than Maduro "if she doesn't do what's right", according to an interview with The Atlantic magazine on Sunday.
US to work with leaders if they make 'right decision', Rubio says
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said Venezuela's next leader should align with US interests. Those include keeping Venezuela's oil industry out of the hands of US adversaries and stopping drug trafficking. He cited an ongoing US blockade on tankers under sanctions as leverage.
"That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interest of the Venezuelan people are met," he said on US broadcaster ABC.
The Venezuelan government has said for months Trump's pressure campaign is an effort to take the country's vast natural resources, especially its oil, and officials have made much of his comment on the weekend that major US oil companies would move in.
"We are outraged because in the end everything was revealed — it was revealed that they only want our oil," said Cabello, who has close ties to the military.
Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA is asking some joint ventures to cut back crude output by shutting down oilfields or groups of wells amid an export paralysis, three sources close to the decision told Reuters news agency.
The OPEC country's oil exports halted after the US last month announced a blockade on sanctioned tankers moving in and out of Venezuelan waters and seized two oil cargoes.
Once one of the most prosperous nations in Latin America, Venezuela's economy nosedived further under Maduro, sending about one in five Venezuelans abroad in one of the world's biggest exoduses.
Protests and fear
Thousands of government supporters took to the streets of Caracas over the weekend, voicing their demand for Maduro's return.
Participants, some carrying rifles and placards bearing Maduro's image, chanted slogans such as "Venezuela with Nicolas," with visible displays of loyalty to the embattled leader.
Protesters described the operation to remove Maduro as a breach of Venezuela's security and sovereignty, as well as rejecting the potential imposition of a government selected by the US.
Yolanda Ivimas, a medical representative, said: "We are free and sovereign. Donald Trump can't have our oil. Maria Corina, Rubio, Edmundo — none of them will govern us. We have a president, and his name is Nicolas Maduro."
Meanwhile, Maduro's opponents in Venezuela have been wary of celebrating his seizure, and the presence of security forces seemed, if anything, lighter than usual on the weekend.
Despite the nervous mood, some bakeries and coffee shops were open, and joggers and cyclists were out as usual on a Sunday morning. Some citizens were stocking up on essentials.
"Yesterday I was very afraid to go out, but today I had to. This situation caught me without food and I need to figure things out. After all, Venezuelans are used to enduring fear," said a single mother in oil city Maracaibo, who said she bought rice, vegetables and tuna.
"If this is necessary for my son to grow up in a free country, I'll keep enduring the fear."
The owner of a small supermarket in the same city said the business did not open on Saturday after strikes on military installations in Caracas and elsewhere, and US special forces swooped in on helicopters to seize Maduro.
"Today we'll work until noon since we're close to many neighbourhoods. People have nowhere to buy food and we need to help them," the shop owner said.
To the disappointment of Venezuela's opposition, Trump has given short shrift to the idea of 58-year-old opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado taking over, saying she lacked support.
Machado was banned from standing in the 2024 election but has said her ally Edmundo Gonzalez, 76, who the opposition and some international observers say overwhelmingly won that vote, has a democratic mandate to take the presidency.
It is unclear how Trump plans to oversee Venezuela and he runs the risk of alienating some supporters who oppose foreign interventions.
While many Western nations oppose Maduro, there were many calls for the US to respect international law and resolve the crisis diplomatically. Questions also arose over the legality of seizing a foreign head of state. Democrats said they were misled at recent Congress briefings and demanded a plan for what comes next.
The United Nations Security Council planned to meet on Monday to discuss the US attack, which secretary-general António Guterres described as a dangerous precedent. Russia and China, both major backers of Venezuela, have criticised the US.
Maduro was indicted in 2020 on US charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy. He has always denied any criminal involvement.
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