Venezuela's supreme court orders VP Delcy Rodriguez to serve as acting president

CARACAS - Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice on late Saturday ordered Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to immediately assume the role of acting president after President Nicolas Maduro's capture.

The judiciary's decision was read on national radio and television by the court's magistrate Tania D'Amelio.

"It is ordered that the citizen Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez, executive vice-president of the republic, assume and exercise in the capacity of acting President, all the powers, duties and faculties inherent to the position of President," said the supreme court decision.

The order also said that Rodriguez's role as acting president "should be exercised immediately."

Meanwhile, the court said it rejects and condemns the extremely serious military aggression carried out by the United States against the people and territory of Venezuela, as well as the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife.

It added that the US action flagrantly violates the Constitution and laws of Venezuela, as well as international law and the Charter of the United Nations, with the aim of seizing Venezuela's strategic resources.

The court said it stands with the Venezuelan people in defending national independence and sovereignty, and called on all parties to make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in a large-scale US military operation against Venezuela early Saturday morning and were flown to New York.