Maduro in NY jail after capture; Venezuela’s VP Rodriguez claims op had ‘Zionist tint’
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was in a New York jail Saturday, hours after American special forces seized him, while Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, whom US President Donald Trump has indicated he could work with, claimed the operation had a “Zionist tint.”
Maduro’s jailing followed a lightning predawn attack in which US commandos grabbed the Venezuelan president and his wife while airstrikes 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.
The White House posted a video on X 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 leftist is heard saying in English.
The Trump administration captioned the video “perp walked.”
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.”
Trump has 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.
Trump dismisses prospect of opposition taking charge
But Trump 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.
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.
However, Trump, who has openly stated that he felt he deserved to have won the 2025 Nobel Prize, was cold about expectations that Machado could become Venezuela’s new leader, saying she doesn’t 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.
Venezuela’s VP: Maduro’s capture has ‘Zionist tint’
On Sunday, Rodriguez claimed that the operation to arrest Maduro had a “Zionist tint.”
“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,” said Rodriguez in a televised speech, according to the Mexican public broadcaster.
She added that “the extremists who have promoted armed aggression against our country — history and justice will make them pay.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/maduro-in-ny-jail-after-capture-venezuelas-vp-rodriguez-claims-op-had-zionist-tint/