HIBAPRESS
Delcy Rodriguez, the Vice President of Venezuela, affirmed on Saturday that Nicolas Maduro is the legitimate and only president of Venezuela, in response to statements by US President Donald Trump in which he spoke about Rodriguez taking the oath after the arrest of Maduro during a military operation inside the country.
Rodriguez appeared in a broadcast via official television from the capital, Caracas, accompanied by her brother, Jorge Rodriguez, the President of the National Assembly, and the Minister of Interior, Diosdado Cabello, along with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, in a scene that reflected the cohesion of the political leadership in the face of recent developments. She called on Venezuelan citizens to remain calm and united and to defend national sovereignty, considering what happened to be an "abduction" of President Maduro, stressing that Venezuela will not be subject to any form of trusteeship or foreign colonization. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army, Dan Cain, announced earlier that the military operation carried out by the United States inside Venezuela was codenamed "Absolute Resolve," stressing that it had undergone a long preparation. The military official explained, during a press conference attended by Trump, that the operation took months of planning and intensive training, and was carried out in great secrecy during the night hours on January 2, with the participation of more than 150 aircraft that took off from multiple locations in the western hemisphere. Cain described the operation as the summary of a complex course of preparation and coordination, considering that it was carried out with high precision and at a calculated time. For his part, Trump provided additional data about the operation, confirming that it ended with the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and their transfer outside the country, indicating that he followed its proceedings live via a live broadcast by special US forces. The US President added that Maduro was arrested from inside what he described as a "fortress," before being transferred to a ship, explaining that the implementation of the operation was delayed for 4 days due to unfavorable weather conditions, and announcing that Maduro will be transferred to New York to face criminal charges. Trump affirmed at the end of his statements that the operation resulted in only minor injuries among the US forces without any fatalities being recorded, considering it "militarily successful."
