“The Veil...”: Venezuela Acting President Delcy Rodríguez's Full Speech
If there is one thing the Venezuelan people and this country are absolutely clear about, it is that we will never again be slaves, that we will never again be colonies of any empire, of any kind, Venezuela Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said in her speech
As the people of Venezuela and the international community are well aware, today, at exactly 1:58 a.m., the government of the United States launched an unprecedented military aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This constitutes a grave stain on the development of bilateral relations.
During this military operation, President Nicolás Maduro and the First Lady, First Combatant Cilia Flores, were captured. We had already warned that an aggression was underway under false excuses and false pretexts, and that the masks had fallen. This aggression had only one objective: Regime change in Venezuela, in order to enable the seizure of our energy resources, our mineral resources, and our natural resources. That is the true objective, and the world and the international community must know this.
We have convened this National Defense Council, in which the public branches of the Venezuelan State are participating. We are joined by the President of the Legislative Branch of Venezuela, Dr. Jorge Rodríguez; the President of the Judicial Branch, Dr. Carilia Beatriz; and the President of the Moral Branch, Attorney General Tarek William Saab. We are also joined by the Minister of Defense; the head of the CEO [Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (CEOFANB)]; the Vice President for Citizen Security; the Council of Vice Presidents; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as well as special guests whom we have convened for this National Defense Council.
From here, we demand the immediate release of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, the only President of Venezuela: President Nicolás Maduro. Here stands the highest leadership of the Venezuelan State: The military high command, the state high command, and the high command of the Council of Vice Presidents.
All the political factors of national power in Venezuela are united. And in the streets of Venezuela, there is also the people who have mobilized in response to the call already issued by the President of the Republic. He warned that if anything were to happen to him, the people would take to the streets; militant forces would mobilize at their workplaces; the Bolivarian National Armed Forces would be activated and deployed throughout the national territory; and citizen security agencies would be activated. All of Venezuela’s national power mobilized to reaffirm what we are by inheritance, as sons and daughters of Simón Bolívar. By inheritance, we have the sacred duty to protect our national independence, our sovereignty, and our territorial integrity, which were savagely attacked in the early hours of today.
The international community has rallied and raised its voice in support of Venezuela. From China, Russia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, governments around the world are simply shocked that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has become the victim and target of an attack of this nature, which undoubtedly bears a Zionist imprint. It is truly shameful.
Our liberator father said it in the Letter from Jamaica [1815]: “The veil has been torn; we have already seen the light, and they want to return us to darkness. The chains have been broken; we have already been free, and our enemies seek to enslave us once again.” If there is one thing the Venezuelan people and this country are absolutely clear about, it is that we will never again be slaves, that we will never again be colonies of any empire, of any kind.
I echo the words of President Nicolás Maduro, who just two days ago, publicly, in a television interview, reaffirmed this government’s willingness to maintain dialogue in order to pursue a constructive agenda. And the response has been this aggression, which flagrantly violates Articles 1 and 2 of the Charter of the United Nations.
President Maduro extended his hand to the people of the United States. As a true head of state, he reaffirmed what diplomatic, political, and institutional channels of communication must be: those of a true state — a state that conducts international relations for the well-being of peoples, for friendship, for cooperation, and for relations grounded in respect for international law. That is who we Venezuelans are.
And therefore, we call on the Venezuelan people to remain calm, so that together, in perfect national unity, we may confront this moment, so that this fusion of police forces, the military, and the people becomes a single body, and that we may emerge from this extraordinary stage of defending our sovereignty and our national independence, united as one body to defend our beloved Venezuela.
That Venezuela we inherited from the greatest man known to universal history. That Venezuela we inherited from Bolívar, from Simón Bolívar, from [Francisco de] Miranda, from [Rafael] Urdaneta, from [the Battle of] Ayacucho, from our heroes, from our heroines, from the martyrs who have been sown in this sacred land to defend the dignity of a people who do not give in, a people who do not surrender, and who will never again be a colony of anyone — neither of ancient empires, nor of new empires, nor of empires in decline. We are determined to be free.
What is being done to Venezuela is barbarism. To besiege it, to blockade it, is barbarism that violates all the mechanisms of the international human rights system. It violates them and constitutes crimes against humanity. We have already demonstrated what the year 2025 was like, with our people — our workers, our businesspeople, our communal members, our farmers, our fishermen — struggling. All of Venezuela united under a single productive vision to guarantee goods and services for our people, to guarantee food, to guarantee medicines, to guarantee essential goods. And so, we are calling for the defense of life.
Let not a single Venezuelan man or woman be left behind. For the extremists who have promoted this armed aggression against our country will be made to pay by history and by justice. Of that, we have no doubt. The Venezuelan people have already placed them where they belong: in the dustbin of history. And the conscious Venezuelan people — the Venezuelan people with the sacred fire of the homeland burning — are outraged by the illegal and illegitimate kidnapping of the president and of the first lady, first combatant, Cilia Flores.
All of Venezuela is mobilized. And the decree that has already been signed by President Maduro — the sole president of Venezuela, for there is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros — is now being forwarded by this National Defense Council to the president of the Supreme Court of Justice for the corresponding constitutional endorsement by the Constitutional Chamber. Everything is being done within the framework of the Constitution.
We learned this from Commander Chávez, in the face of adversity, in the face of coups d’état, in the face of oil sabotage. We are ready to defend Venezuela. We are ready to defend our natural resources, which must serve national development. Today, the Venezuelan people are fully aware of the significance of their hydrocarbons and of their energy resources.
Accordingly, this National Defense Council has been activated. It has now been constituted and awaits the decision of the Constitutional Chamber, which we hope will be issued in the coming hours, to endorse the decree of external commotion issued and signed by President Nicolás Maduro, so that everything provided for in that decree of external commotion may be implemented as of this moment.
To our Venezuela, to our people: here stands a government of clarity. And I repeat, and repeat again, the words of the President — I take them up once more. We are open to respectful relations. We are open to relations within the framework of international law and the laws of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This is the only kind of relationship we will accept after our beloved nation — and the capital that witnessed the birth of our liberator father, Simón Bolívar — has been attacked and militarily aggressed.
In national unity, the Venezuelan people will find the path to peace and tranquility. Those who resort to the use of force, those who resort to violence under the guise of international legality, are not guided by reason. We are guided by historical reason and moral reason to remain firm in defense of peace, of tranquility, of Venezuela’s right to a future, of the Venezuelan people’s right to their homeland, and of the right to a future and to social happiness for our people.
Riding alongside our liberator father in Angostura, we ride with him in the Admirable Campaign. We ride to liberate the great homeland. And we call on the countries and peoples of the great homeland to remain united, because what was done to Venezuela today can be done to anyone. That brutal use of force to bend the will of peoples can be inflicted on any country. Today, it was inflicted on the people of Bolívar.
And be assured that the Venezuelan people — wise, patient, and endowed with strategic patience — will know how to find the path to defending peace, defending tranquility, and defending the homeland.
Thank you very much to all Venezuelan men and women.
[Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez is the Acting President of Venezuela after the U.S. abduction of Nicolás Maduro on 3 January 2026. Translation: Alain Marshal.]
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