“Venezuela Will Never Return to the Status of a Colony of Another Empire.”

Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez on Saturday, January 3, publicly condemned the U.S. strike and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, saying in a televised address that the country “will never return to the status of a colony of another empire.”

The statement was the first indication that the transfer of power following the removal of Maduro’s regime may prove far less manageable than U.S. President Donald Trump had anticipated. Earlier the same day, he told reporters that he expected Venezuela to be placed under temporary U.S. administration and claimed that Rodriguez had already been sworn in as president. Caracas, however, has not officially confirmed that any such oath took place.

Rodriguez’s own whereabouts also remain unclear. Some media outlets report that she is in Russia, while others say she is in Caracas.

At a Saturday press conference, Trump said Rodriguez would have to cooperate with U.S. authorities, stressing that “she really doesn’t have a choice.” He said she had already spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and had allegedly indicated Venezuela’s readiness to “do whatever” the United States required. Trump also claimed that U.S. troops would not be deployed in the country “if the vice president does what we want.”

In her televised address, Rodriguez effectively rejected that account, dismissing any suggestion that Caracas was prepared to submit to Washington’s demands. “If there is one thing the Venezuelan people and the country know with absolute clarity, it is that we will never return to the status of slaves,” she said.

At the same time, Rodriguez did not rule out the possibility of dialogue with the Trump administration, calling for “respectful relations,” according to the Associated Press. “That is the only form of relationship we are prepared to accept after an attack has been carried out against Venezuela,” she said.

In the same address, Rodriguez demanded confirmation that Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are alive and called for their release from U.S. custody. Maduro and Flores are expected to be held in a federal prison in New York, though it remains unclear whether they have been transferred there. According to the indictment, they are charged with conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and two counts related to illegal arms trafficking.