The future leadership of Venezuela is up for grabs as former dictator Nicolas Maduro is preoccupied, declaring himself a “prisoner of war” in a New York federal court.
Europe is largely throwing its weight behind a high-profile opponent of Maduro to replace him as head of state, despite President Donald Trump’s rhetoric backing the deposed dictator’s second-in-command, acting President Delcy Rodriguez.
“It’s worth recalling that Nicolás Maduro lacked the legitimacy of a democratically elected leader, and therefore the events over the weekend provide the opportunity for a democratic transition led by the Venezuelan people,” European Commission chief spokeswoman Paula Pinho said Monday.
Pinho seemed to reference Edmundo Gonzalez, widely believed by international bodies to have been the legitimate victor of the latest Venezuelan elections, when she endorsed the “possibility for those who have been democratically elected in Venezuela to actually be running the country.”
“It’s obviously for the Venezuelan people to run the country as it is for any people across the world,” Pinho said. “Wherever and whatever country we’re talking about.”
This preference has been echoed across European countries following an initial period of trepidation about the invasion, with world leaders throwing their support behind Gonzalez and fellow opposition leader María Corina Machado, a former National Assembly member who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 for her advocacy toward Venezuelan democracy.
“The solution to, as soon as possible, restore democratic legitimacy is not to reinstate [Nicolás] Maduro in power, but precisely to put in the presidency the candidate who won the elections,” Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel said Monday.
“Many consider this intervention, carried out in these terms, regardless of the intentions, which are benign, not to be in accordance with international law — but given the illegitimacy of Nicolás Maduro and a narco-state elite, some believe that there may be some degree of legitimation,” he continued.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who publicly asserted that his country “neither supported nor approved” of the U.S. operation against Maduro, nevertheless offered a similar perspective.
“We hope that President Edmundo González Urrutia, elected in 2024, will be able to ensure this transition as quickly as possible,” Macron said.
Gonzalez, who lives in exile and advocates Venezuelan reforms from Spain, has not requested to be installed as head of state.
On Monday, Gonzalez issued a video statement saying that Venezuela will not truly recover from the repression of Maduro until “all Venezuelans who have been deprived of their freedom for political reasons are released.”
“This moment represents an important step, but it is not enough,” he said in the address published to social media.
Trump has not directly weighed in on the possibility of Gonzalez taking power, but he has already ruled out Machado.
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader,” the U.S. president told reporters, calling her a “very nice woman” who “lacks the support” necessary to lead Venezuela.
Instead, Trump is leaning on Rodriguez with the hopes that economic leverage and military strong-arming will allow the U.S. to control the vice president like a puppet.
“I just had a conversation with her, and she’s essentially willing to do what she thinks is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump said, pointing out in another comment that “she really doesn’t have a choice.”
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“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump told the Atlantic in an interview.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has publicly pushed back on Trump’s claims that the U.S. is now “in charge” of Venezuela, suggesting that America has “tremendous leverage — incredible, crippling leverage — which we intend to continue to use until we see the changes that we need.”
“We expect to see changes in Venezuela, changes of all kinds — long-term, short-term,” Rubio told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “We’d love to see all kinds of changes. But the most immediate changes are the ones that are in the national interest of the United States.”
If anyone cared about Maduro’s perspective on the future of Venezuelan leadership, he made his position clear during his appearance in court on Monday — declaring he is “still president of my country.”
“Are you, sir, Nicolas Maduro Moros?” Judge Alvin Hellerstein asked Maduro on Monday in accordance with legal procedure.
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“I am the president of Venezuela,” Maduro responded, “I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela.”
Before he could continue through his interpreter, the judge interrupted to tell him there would be time to challenge his arrest later.
