United States President Donald Trump has claimed the role of Acting President of Venezuela.
The US leader on Sunday, January 11, posted an image on his social media site Truth Social claiming to be the acting leader of the South American country, about one week after an elite US military force captured President Nicolas Maduro in a overnight operation.
But Venezuelan politician Delcy Rodríguez took over the helm of the South American country shortly after the arrest.
Maduro, 63, and his wife Cilla Flores, 69, were captured by an elite squadron of the US military in an overnight raid on Saturday, January 3.
The Venezuelan leader has been called a dictator and indicted on drug and terrorism charges at a court in the Southern District of New York in 2020.
Days later Trump said Venezuela would turn over millions of barrels of oil to the US. He added that the oil will be sold at its market price and that he will control the money.
On Friday, January 9, Trump met with oil executives in a bid to raise $100 billion to tap inot Venezuela’s oil reserves. Exeutives express caution as the country has expreienced previous asset seizure and a history of political turmoil.
“Our giant oil companies will be spending at least $100 billion of their money, not the government’s money. They don’t need government money. But they need government protection,” he said at the meeting.
Trump’s claim as Venezuela’s interim leader comes amid growing concerns that Washington has its sight set on other countries, including Greenland, Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Iran.
Acquiring Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, has been a recurring topic of intrest for the American president.
The Mirror previously reported that Trump has been discussing a “range of options” to acquire the territory.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders in have raised alarm bells and inisted that the US president must climb down from threats to take over the territory.
