Buenos Aires, 5 January 2026 (dpa/MIA) - Following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro by US special forces at the weekend, his successor Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as acting president on Monday.

She took the oath of office in the National Assembly in the capital Caracas, reports said.

"I will not rest until peace and tranquillity are guaranteed for the republic," the 56-year-old said during her swearing-in ceremony conducted by her brother, parliamentary speaker Jorge Rodríguez.

Delcy Rodríguez was entrusted with running government affairs by the Supreme Court after Maduro was seized and flown out of the South American country to the US in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday.

Her brother, left-wing politician Jorge Rodríguez, was on Monday also re-elected as president of the National Assembly amid the acute government crisis caused by the US attack.

The 60-year-old psychiatrist has been elected to lead the parliament until 2031. 

Family belongs to Venezuela's political elite 

Like his sister, Jorge Rodríguez has been part of the power elite in Caracas for years. He previously served as head of the election authority, vice president and communications minister.

The Rodríguez siblings come from a politically active family: their father, Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, is considered a martyr of the left-wing movement in Venezuela after the Marxist guerrilla fighter died in police custody in 1976 under controversial circumstances. 

Interim president is a Maduro loyalist 

Delcy Rodríguez has up to now been considered one of the most loyal figures in Maduro's inner circle.

As foreign minister between 2014 and 2017, she shaped the confrontational course with the United States, which she continued as vice president. Even after the US military strike at the weekend, she initially remained unyielding. The powerful military publicly backed her.

Later, she showed herself willing to cooperate with the US.

"We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence," she said said on Sunday in a statement posted on Instagram.

Rodríguez had initially taken a hard line after the US attack.

"Our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war," she wrote in a message addressed to US President Donald Trump. "This has always been President Nicolás Maduro’s message, and it is the message of all of Venezuela right now."

Government still considers Maduro Venezuela's head of state 

The Venezuelan government continues to regard Maduro as the legitimate head of state and has criticized his arrest by the US as an abduction in violation of international law.

According to the Venezuelan constitution, in the event of the president's permanent absence, the vice president initially takes over the duties of office and calls new elections within 30 days.

However, it is unclear whether the new leadership considers the current situation to be such a permanent absence.

Trump said on Sunday that new elections in Venezuela are not a priority. "We're going to run it, fix it. We'll have elections at the right time," Trump told journalists at his Florida estate.

Photo: dpa