Venezuela's Interim Leader Defies Trump and Calls Maduro the 'Only President'

[Polybius]

Source: NY Times

President Trump said Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president and would act as a partner in letting the United States run the country.

Less than two hours later, Ms. Rodríguez — who was Nicolás Maduro’s vice president — delivered a televised address to Venezuela that made clear she viewed the United States as an illegal invader that must be rejected.

“We are determined to be free,” she said. “What is being done to Venezuela is a barbarity.”

Her swift defiance of Mr. Trump made clear that his plans to swoop into the South American nation and run it as his own faced many more hurdles than he suggested in his Saturday news conference declaring victory in Venezuela.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/delcy-rodriguez-maduro-only-president.html

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Wow!

[msongs]

1. putin says ukraine will roll over. trump says VZ will roll over nt

[Journeyman]

2. Ruh-roh. Looks like a possible repeat of the Iraqi chaos on its way . . .

[turbinetree]

3. Trumpisstain you have a problem...........maybe you need to take stronger aspirins ............

hey Speaker less Johnson and Thune ball less maybe you should throw his ass out of office............

[Talitha]

4. ...

[C Moon]

5. Here, I fixed the sentence:

and would act as a partner in letting the United States ruin the country

[ancianita]

6. Think she's got enough force from the OAS to back her forces?

Or from
-- UNASUR (Union of South American Nations), which aims at deeper integration across South America, covering defense, energy, health, and more, or
-- the Pacific Alliance, which is a trade bloc connecting Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Costa Rica, or
-- CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, that provides financing and technical support for development projects, or
-- UN ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), a UN body promoting economic and social development, or
-- Inter-American Dialogue (IAD): A leading think tank on Western Hemisphere policy, or
-- Freedom House & The Carter Center, NGOs focused on democracy and human rights in the region?

Are there enough oligarchs who'd like to see and help free peoples in the Americas? Because they're sure not apparent in the USA.

[NBachers]

7. Mission accomplished

[duckworth969]

8. Land War and Boots on the Ground

Another Jungle War and American Arrogance

Angry citizens, partisans, fired up military, mercenaries and ruthless cartels that know the territory.

Plus, porous border with Colombia.

Can’t imagine it’ll be a cakewalk.

[William Seger]

9. "Merry Christmas, Venezuela, here's your country back. We're outa here!" is what #rump would have said...

...if he was just trying to make the world a better place by eliminating Maduro. Nope, it was, "We're gonna run things. And BTW, we still remember that oil you stole from us, and we didn't steal enough back yet."

[red dog 1]

10. Is there a link to read this NYT article without a paywall?

[Polybius]

11. Here ya go:

https://archive.is/20260104081224/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/delcy-rodriguez-maduro-only-president.html

[red dog 1]

12. Thanks

[Polybius]

13. You're welcome!

If you ever want to bypass a paywall, just use this site. You put the original link in and it gives you the bypass link. Here it is:

https://www.removepaywall.com/

[lostnfound]

14. Her statements may not mean anything at all, just public relations

She would have to say that, to retain credibility with Venezuelan people.