Trump declares himself as ‘Acting President of Venezuela’

Washington: US President Donald Trump has posted a photo of himself on his social media site Truth Social with his designation listed as “Acting President of Venezuela.” The post on Truth Social on Sunday has Trump’s official portrait and then the designation “Acting President of Venezuela, “Incumbent January 2026.” It also has his designation as the 45th and 47th President of the United States, who assumed office on January 20, 2025.

On January 3, 2026, United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and took him out of the country after an extraordinary nighttime operation that was accompanied by a flurry of strikes following months of escalating pressure on the oil-rich South American nation.

Claiming that US presence was already in place in Venezuela, President Trump said hours after the attack that his government would run Caracas, at least temporarily, and would tap its vast oil reserves to sell “large amounts” to other countries. “We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” he said.

Trump was speaking at a press conference at ‌his Mar-a-Lago ‌club in Florida after what he claimed was “one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American might and confidence”.

On January 3, 2026, in Venezuela, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court ordered that Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez assume the role of Acting President in the absence of Maduro. While the court ruling said Rodríguez would assume “the office of President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in order to guarantee administrative continuity and the comprehensive defence of the Nation”, the acting leader demanded that the US free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader.