WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – According to a media report, US President Donald Trump threatened Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. “If she doesn’t do the right thing, she will pay a very high price, probably higher than (Nicolás) Maduro,” he said in a telephone conversation with The Atlantic magazine. The medium did not publish the exact question about the answer – nor whether Trump had commented on what exactly he meant by “right”.
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was captured by US special forces on Saturday night and taken out of the country. According to local media reports, after Maduro was violently removed from power, Vice President Rodríguez took over the presidency on an acting basis by order of the Supreme Court until new elections. The military – the decisive force in Venezuela – has already thrown its support behind them.
On Saturday, Trump claimed at a press conference that the United States would temporarily lead Venezuela and that Rodríguez was willing to cooperate. This, on the other hand, was unbending. She called for Maduro’s release on Saturday and described the US attack as a violation of the UN Charter. “We will never be slaves again,” she said in the direction of Trump./ngu/DP/zb