What's happening in Venezuela?
Jenny looks at what's been happening in Venezuela
- Published
The US has captured the President of Venezuela, after President Donald Trump ordered military strikes on the country.
President Nicolás Maduro is now being held in the US, and President Trump says the US will "run" Venezuela until there is a "proper" handover of power.
But Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodríguez says the Venezuelan government is ready "to defend" itself.
Some countries, including China, Russia and Brazil, have strongly criticised the military action of the US, while others, like Argentina, have praised President Trump.
What happened?
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the US Military attacked Venezuela, a country in South America.
There were air strikes on the country's capital, Caracas, and US troops landed and captured President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
They were both then taken to a US warship and flown to New York City in the United States where they are being held.
President Maduro and Cilia Flores have been charged with drugs and weapons offences in the USA.
Where is Venezuela?
Venezuela and neighbouring countries
Venezuela is in South America and borders Columbia, Brazil and Guyana.
Caracas is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and is in the northern part of the country.
Venezuela has a coastline on the Caribbean Sea, and is a major producer of oil.
What was the background to the attack?
The relationship between the countries had been getting worse for some time before the attack
The US said that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was not elected legally.
It also said he was leading an international drug trafficking organisation, something that President Maduro had denied.
The US military conducted 30 strikes in recent times on what it claimed are drug-smuggling boats, in the Pacific and the Caribbean sea.
Before his capture, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said the US government had been trying to remove him from power, and that they wanted to take Venezuela's oil and minerals.
Who is now in charge of Venezuela?
After President Maduro's capture, President Trump gave a press conference.
In it, he said that the US was going to "run the country until such time as we can do a safe and proper and judicious transition".
The Vice-President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, has been made interim president which means she's filling in for Maduro until further notice.
President Trump says the Venezuelan Vice-President is willing to do "whatever the US asks", but later on Venezuelan TV, Delcy Rodríguez demanded Maduro's release.
What next for Venezuela?
The US government says they are not planning any more military action in Venezuela.
But they have not ruled it out. When asked if they would send US troops to the country again, President Trump said his government is "not afraid of boots on the ground".
In his press conference, President Trump spoke about Venezuela's oil.
The country's oil reserves are estimated to total more than 300 billion barrels - the largest on earth.
President Trump says he is going to send US oil companies to fix the infrastructure "and start making money for the country".
He said "we're going to be taking a tremendous amount of wealth from the ground". Trump also said the US would sell the oil to other countries too.
But Venezuela's government is not happy about this.
They have described the attack as an attempt to seize "Venezuela's strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals", and that they believe that the US is trying to "forcibly break the political independence of the nation".
What are other countries saying?
Some countries have condemned the US - which means they think their actions are not acceptable.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva says the actions "cross an unacceptable line" and Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Cane accused the US of a "criminal attack".
Outside of Latin America, Russia has accused the US of committing "an act of armed aggression", China says it is "deeply shocked" and Iran says it is a "violation of the country's national sovereignty".
There are some countries who are in support. The Argentinian President Javier Milei - who Donald Trump has described as his "favourite president" - wrote "freedom moves forward" and "long live freedom" on social media.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said his government "would shed no tears" for the end of Maduro's regime.
The Prime Minister said he was waiting to establish all the facts but would not "shy away from this", and added that he was a "lifelong advocate of international law".
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