Venezuela’s VP denounces America’s ‘Zionist’ arrest of Maduro

Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez links the US operation to arrest the country’s communist leader to Zionism and Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

Venezuela’s vice president accused the United States operation, which led to the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, of having “Zionist undertones,” linking the targeted American strikes to the State of Israel.

On Saturday, American military forces carried out Operation Absolute Resolve, striking targets across northern Venezuela and deploying special forces to Caracas to capture President Maduro and his wife.

The two were flown to the United States to face federal narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges, a move President Donald Trump hailed as a major victory, adding that the US would temporarily “run” Venezuela until a transition is possible.

Hours after Maduro’s arrest, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez made a televised address at the National Defense Council, condemning the American operation.

Rodriguez, who is widely perceived as being more moderate than Maduro, was tapped by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice to serve as acting president while Maduro remains in American custody.

During her address Saturday, Rodriguez emphasized that Maduro remains the country’s “only president,” and vowed that Venezuela would not be a colony of any country, defying claims earlier that day by Trump that she had told Secretary of State Marco Rubio that she would “do whatever” the Trump administration asks.

“If there’s something that the Venezuelan people and the country know very clearly, we will never return to being slaves,” she said during her address.

Rodriguez lamented the attack, claiming it had “Zionist undertones,” which she called “truly shameful.”

“The governments of the world are shocked that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the victim and target of an attack of this nature, which undoubtedly has Zionist undertones,” Rodriguez said.