Delcy Rodriguez received the Pledge of Allegiance weeks after dozens of people were killed in a U.S. military operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Published January 29, 2026
Venezuela’s military and police have pledged allegiance to interim President Delcy Rodríguez, weeks after the country’s former president Nicolas Maduro was abducted by US forces in a deadly operation ordered by US President Donald Trump.
Rodriguez attended a ceremony on Wednesday at the Bolivarian Military Academy in the Fuerte Tiuna military complex in Caracas, where leaders declared their allegiance to the Bolivarian government.
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Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, who presented Rodriguez with the ceremonial baton and sword of independence hero Simón Bolívar, said: “We pledge our absolute loyalty and obedience.”
“This is an unprecedented moment for our country,” Padrino said.
Mr. Padrino’s declaration came weeks after the U.S. abduction operation of Mr. Maduro and his wife, Syria Flores. The defense minister said 83 people were killed by U.S. forces in the operation, including 47 Venezuelan soldiers and 32 Cuban security personnel.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello also pledged allegiance on behalf of the police, saying it was important to support Mr. Rodríguez “because we feel that protecting your rule means protecting the continuity of government and the integrity of the Venezuelan people.”
Rodriguez has led the country since Maduro’s surprise abduction on January 3.
Rodriguez, who was Maduro’s vice president, began his new role by freeing political prisoners imprisoned under Maduro, pledging a “new political moment” in the country.
“There is no foreign proxy governing Venezuela,” he added, despite President Trump’s threats of further military intervention if Venezuela doesn’t meet its ambitions, including handing greater control of the country’s vast oil reserves to American companies.
Hours after Mr. Maduro and Mr. Flores were detained and taken to a New York prison, President Trump said he supported pressuring the new acting president, Rodríguez, to get his way, while dismissing opposition leader Maria Colina Machado as a “very nice woman” who did not have support or “respect” for Venezuelan rule.
Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, later presented the award to President Trump at the White House.
Machado, who is in Washington, told reporters after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that he didn’t think “anyone trusted Delcy Rodriguez.”
“Those who seek to perpetuate harm and harm to the Venezuelan people must remain in Washington,” Rodriguez said at a military ceremony in Caracas on Wednesday, appearing to refer to opposition leader Machado.
