TOI correspondent from Washington: Donald Trump posted on Truth Social a fake Wikipedia profile calling him “acting president” of Venezuela, seemingly mocking the besieged country, United Nations, and the global community. While the charitable explanation from some analysts is that he is trolling Venezuela and the world, concern and outrage rippled through many who said he is emboldened by the silence and tacit concurrence of most countries to the US takeover of a sovereign nation. Delcy Rodriguez, who was vice-president to abducted president Nicolas Maduro, is currently acting president of Venezuela.Rubio to coordinate Caracas governance with interim presidentTrump had detailed secretary of state Marco Rubio —now dubbed “Viceroy” of Venezuela — to coordinate its governance with Delcy Rodriguez, the US-designated interim Venezuelan president who was deposed President Nicolas Maduro’s deputy. Trump had openly threatened Rodriguez, saying if she doesn’t give US corporations “total access” to “the oil and other things”, she would “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro”. It is unclear if Rodriguez, who is currently cooperating with the US, is doing so voluntarily or at gunpoint. But Trump’s hardball is not going down well with Americans critic outside the ambit of MAGA. “A US president declaring himself president of another nation 1,000 miles from his own nation’s borders is unhinged criminality. This is done to prime the US public for wider criminality to come,” Brian Berletic, a former US Marine who writes on geopolitics, said in a post on X. While several countries, notably China, Russia, and Brazil have condemned US takeover of Venezuela, others like Argentina, Ecuador, and Israel have supported the US action. Some others, like the EU, UK, and India, have taken a “middle ground” of strategic acquiescence that falls short of outright condemnation, which, critics say, will embolden Trump administration to flex its muscles elsewhere across the world.
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