Reuters World News - Venezuela: Maduro in NY custody, Caracas defiance and oil

Episode Date: January 4, 2026

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is being held in a New York detention center after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a raid to capture the South American leader and take control of the country and its vast oil reserves. Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has called it a kidnapping and is demanding his immediate release. Listen to Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Sharon Reisch Garson in New Jersey. It's Sunday, January 4th. Today, Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro is in custody in New York after the U.S. raid on Caracas. Donald Trump says the U.S. will run Venezuela while the woman left in charge in Caracas says Venezuela will resist. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, 70. a week. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with hands tied being escorted by guards at the headquarters of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New York.

The footage verified by Reuters was shared by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on its rapid response 47 account on X. This was just hours after Maduro and his wife were seized in a dramatic operation by the U.S. military in Venezuela. Images released by U.S. authorities show him handcuffed and blindfolded during the flight to the U.S. Under heavy guard and with helicopters flying overhead, Maduro was then taken to a detention center, where he has been indicted on various federal charges. That includes narco-terrorism and conspiracy, and he's expected in Manhattan federal court on Monday, according to a Justice Department official.

While many Western allies opposed Maduro and say he stole Venezuela's 2024 election, there were numerous calls for the U.S. to respect international law and resolve the crisis diplomatically. Donald Trump says there needs to be a safe transition of power. We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. So we don't want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. In Venezuela, the streets have been mostly calm. Julia Sims Cobb is Reuters' Andean Bureau Chief.

Happily after the initial U.S. attack, things seem to have been very peaceful. There have been some pro-government marches in Caracas, but they've been mostly small groups. otherwise a lot of people have stayed home, but there haven't been reports of street violence. In some places, we have seen lines at gas stations and grocery stores where people are trying to stock up on the basics. There's a lot of businesses that chose not to open today, but in general, it's been quite peaceful barring that initial U.S. splits in the early hours of Saturday morning.

What happens next in Venezuela is for now unclear. In his address, President Trump said Venezuela's vice president, Delcey Rodriguez spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and was cooperative. She had a long conversation with Marco and she said, we'll do whatever you need. I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn't have a choice. We're going to have this done right. But as Julia explains, when Delci Rodriguez gave a televised address later, She had an entirely different message.

Delcian appeared on Venezuelan state television with a bunch of other big wigs from the Venezuelan government, including Interior Minister Dioza al-Cabello, and Rodriguez's brother Jorge, who's the head of the National Assembly Legislature, and they presented this sort of collective front, and she said that the only president of... Venezuela is Nicholas Maludo and that they were having a security council and that they were

determined for Manudo to be released and that they believed this U.S. action on Saturday morning was an effort to claim Venezuela's natural resources, including oil. So it's obviously complete contradiction in terms of what's going on. And the other fascinating element of this contradiction is the role of the Venezuelan opposition. So Maria Corino-Machalo is the very famous leader of the Venezuelan opposition. She just won the Nobel Peace Prize last month. And Trump sort of poo-pooed her involvement in this process and said that she didn't have the respect of the Venezuelan people, and so couldn't be part of a transition.

She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect to business. Machado herself says the opposition is ready. Yes, Machalo put out a very optimistic sounding statement in the middle of the day on Saturday. basically encouraging Venezuelans to sit tight and be ready for change, that she was confident that the opposition would be able to take their rightful place in power because they say that they won that 2024 election. They're backed up on that by the U.S. and by international observers, that they would be able to take that place and rebuild a country that would be prosperous for everyone.

So Donald Trump says the U.S. is going to run Venezuela until there can be a, quote, safe judicious transition. And he says he's open to sending U.S. forces into Venezuela. We had boots on the ground last night at a very high level, actually. We're not afraid of it. We don't mind saying it. So what does that actually mean? And where does this intervention leave a president who's consistently touted an America first agenda? We spoke to Foreign Policy Editor, Don Durfey. So he was asked during his press conference, right, what happens next? And he says, you know, we will run the country. And he said that, you know, several times. And he was asked who was going to run the country. And he turned back and pointed and said, you know, these gentlemen behind me. So he was indicating the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. So that seems to imply that it's going to be some sort of a U.S. military-led government. But at the same time, but at the same thing, same time, he has indicated that some members of the current Venezuelan government will remain in

power. So it's really unclear how this is all going to pan out. And Don says this could be a risky move for the Trump administration. Roiders did a poll a few weeks back asking, you know, how many people would support U.S. military action to remove Maduro. And it was only one and five voters would support that. So just on the face of it, it seems like an unpopular move among the public. So, yes, it could translate into a political risk for Trump and his party. Don, what's the potential geopolitical fallout? Right. So this is definitely going to have pretty major global ripples. You know, the U.S. wasn't technically at war with Venezuela and sort of the justifications

that have been provided to the international community for the country. this action, you know, I would say are not the most robust. The U.S., of course, has been very critical of countries like Russia, in particular, for its action in Ukraine. China also, which has been eyeing Taiwan. You could easily imagine a situation where either one of those countries or another country use the U.S. action now as, or sort of point to the U.S. action is justification for the kinds of steps that they might want to take against their own neighbors. Unclear if that will happen, but it's, it is an unsettling thing for many around the world. While Donald Trump has said Nicolas Maduro had to be removed because of drugs and terrorism,

oil is also clearly on the U.S. agenda. Venezuela sits on the world's largest oil reserve. Reuters Commodities and Energy Editor Simon Webb says it'll still take some time before a difference is seen in the oil market. There'd be very little in the way of exports from Venezuela since Trump declared an effective oil embargo on Venezuela in December. So since then, the only exports that have been coming out of the country have been less than 100,000 barrels per day from Chevron, the US company, which has a license to export.

So in the short term, not much change. Trump said that he would keep the oil embargo in effect for now. longer term, there's a potential to produce a lot more oil. But Simon says that could take years. If you look at what happened in Iraq, if you look at what happened in Libya, after the war is there, neither of those countries have yet reached the potential they could have been at. If all had been in order and investment had been going in, there's no reason to think that Venezuela would be any different.

It's just a long, long way from that and many, many hundreds of billions of dollars short of investment in order to get to that kind of level. To keep up to date with all the latest from Venezuela and other stories from around the world, head to Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. And if you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week.

We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.