The Trump administration’s move to capture and remove from power Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday has sparked a political crisis in the South American country after more than a decade under the strongman’s rule.

Maduro, whom the U.S. government views as an illegitimate leader, and his wife were taken to New York to face charges, and reportedly arrived in the state late Saturday afternoon.

President Trump said earlier in the day that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s new leader, but she later appeared to dismiss that remark by saying Maduro is the country’s “only president.” She told citizens in a televised address that the U.S. military’s attack was “barbarity” and demanded the U.S. release Maduro and Cilia Flores.

“We had already warned that an aggression was underway under false excuses and false pretenses, and that the masks had fallen off, revealing only one objective: regime change in Venezuela,” Rodríguez said, according to The New York Times. “This regime change would also allow for the seizure of our energy, mineral and natural resources. This is the true objective, and the world and the international community must know it.”

Regardless of her stance, Rodríguez has now entered the political spotlight in Venezuela, along with two notable opposition leaders.

Here are three key players in Venezuela after Maduro’s ouster:

Delcy Rodríguez

She has been Maduro’s vice president since 2018, with the strongman leader at the time describing her as “a young woman, brave, seasoned, daughter of a martyr, revolutionary and tested in a thousand battles,” according to Reuters. Rodríguez, 56, was previously the country’s foreign minister from 2014 to 2017.

A Caracas native, she has also been called a “tiger” by Maduro due to her fierce defense of his socialist government. In August 2024, Maduro added the country’s oil ministry to her portfolio, where she has been tasked with managing escalating U.S. sanctions on the country’s most important industry, per Reuters.

Rodríguez said on Saturday that she is willing to talk and “have respectful relations” with the Trump administration.

“It is the only thing we will accept for a type of relationship after having attacked [Venezuela],” Rodríguez said, The Associated Press reported.

María Corina Machado

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado received international attention in October when she won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democratic rights for the people of her country. Among her efforts include certifying Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election and aiming to prove that another opposition figure, Edmundo González, was the rightful winner of the contest amid allegations of widespread election fraud.

Machado has been in hiding and, in December, appeared in public for the first time in 11 months when she emerged from a hotel balcony in Norway’s capital and waved to a crowd of supporters celebrating her Nobel Peace Prize win, according to the AP.

After news of Maduro’s capture broke on Saturday, Machado wrote on X that “the hour of freedom has arrived.” She has also been supportive of the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea, placing blame for deaths from the U.S. attacks squarely on the shoulders of Maduro.

But Trump on Saturday hesitated to back Machado as Venezuela’s next leader, telling reporters that “it would be very tough” for her to take power.

“She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” Trump said.

Edmundo González

González is recognized by the United States and other foreign countries to be the rightful winner of Venezuela’s presidential election held in July 2024, even though Maduro was ultimately declared the winner. Machado herself on Saturday put her support behind González, saying he must now be “recognized as Commander in Chief of the National Armed Forces by all officers and soldiers.”

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, stacked with government loyalists, had named Maduro the winner of the 2024 election, according to the AP. But unlike in previous contests, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts to back the announced result.

But the opposition collected tally sheets from 85 percent of electronic voting machines and posted them online, showing González had won by a more than a two-to-one margin. United Nations experts and the U.S.-based Carter Center, both invited by Maduro’s government to observe the election, said the tally sheets published by the opposition were legitimate.

Maduro, nonetheless, was sworn in for another term last January.

González fled Venezuela for asylum in Spain in September, less than a week after a local judge ordered his arrest. His departure was part of a negotiated deal with Maduro’s government, the AP reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a Saturday statement on X that he wished for González to “swiftly ensure” a transition of power in Venezuela.