Delcy Rodríguez, Vice President of Venezuela
By Anadolu Agency
Venezuela’s vice president on Saturday denounced the US “abduction” of President Nicolas Maduro following airstrikes, arguing that the military intervention was a thinly veiled attempt at regime change designed to allow the US to seize Venezuela’s significant oil, mineral, and energy reserves.
“The masks have fallen,” Delcy Rodriguez said on state TV, asserting that the true objective of the operation was to dismantle the nation’s political independence and reestablish colonial-style rule.
She characterized the current state of affairs as “barbaric,” calling the ongoing US blockade and military siege tools of enslavement.
Rodriguez said that despite being forcibly removed by US special forces, Maduro remains the country’s sole legitimate leader and issued an urgent demand for his immediate release along with his wife, Cilia Flores, who was also taken.
“The Venezuelan people are outraged by the illegal, illegitimate kidnapping of the president and the first lady,” she said.
Calling the situation a “truly shameful” ideological attack, she added: “The governments of the world are simply shocked that Venezuela is the victim and target of an attack of this nature, which undoubtedly has Zionist overtones.”
Surrounded by a high-level delegation — including her brother and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, and the foreign and defense ministers — she called for national calm.
Rodriguez urged citizens to remain unified in defense of their sovereignty against what she termed an “imperialist empire.”
This televised appearance followed an earlier audio message in which Rodriguez demanded that Washington provide immediate “proof of life” for the detained president and first lady.