Venezuelan Supreme Court Orders Delcy Rodríguez to Serve as Acting President: «To Ensure Constitutional Order and Defend Sovereignty»

Original article: Tribunal Supremo de Justicia de Venezuela ordena que Delcy Rodríguez asuma como presidenta encargada: “Para garantizar orden constitucional y defensa de la soberanía”

Venezuelan Supreme Court Orders Delcy Rodríguez to Serve as Acting President

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), the sole authority for interpreting the National Constitution, has ordered on Saturday, January 3, that Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assume and exercise all powers, duties, and responsibilities of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as acting president. This action aims to guarantee administrative continuity and comprehensive defense of the Nation in light of the forced absence of constitutional President Nicolás Maduro, who has been seized by military forces of the U.S. government.

This decision underscores that Venezuela upholds constitutional order, that the five branches of the State continue to fulfill their obligations, and that the Bolivarian Government and the Venezuelan people remain steadfast in defending sovereignty, peace, and demanding the return of President Maduro and First Lady, National Assembly member Cilia Flores, who have been kidnapped in gross violation of international law.

• The measure enacted by the TSJ’s Constitutional Chamber ensures «administrative continuity and comprehensive defense of the Nation» amidst the severity of foreign military aggression against Venezuela, which has created an «exceptional, atypical situation and force majeure not literally foreseen in the National Constitution» with the abduction of head of State Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores by the government of Donald Trump. This attack was executed in the early hours of January 3 against civilian and military targets in Caracas, La Guaira, Aragua, and Miranda.
• The ruling specifies that, given the situation caused by the kidnapping of President Maduro, there is a need for «constitutional certainty due to the extreme gravity threatening the stability of the State and the effectiveness of the legal framework.» Consequently, the TSJ has ordered, as an urgent preventive measure, the protective action that mandates the

Vice President to assume the role of acting president, ensuring administrative continuity of the State and defense of the Nation.

• The TSJ explicitly states that this constitutes a forced absence and does not make a «final legal qualification of the presidential absence (temporary or absolute).» This means that the only constitutional president of Venezuela, head of State and Government, as well as Commander-in-Chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), is Nicolás Maduro.
• This decision aligns with the interpretative authority granted by Article 335 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the Constitutional Chamber (CRBV), which stipulates that this highest court is the sole interpreter of the Constitution and specifies that «the interpretations established by the Constitutional Chamber on the content and scope of constitutional norms and principles are binding for the other Chambers» of the TSJ and other courts of the Republic.
• The Constitutional Chamber interpreted in a «systematic and teleological» manner Articles 234 and 239 of the CRBV. It determined that there are elements indicating the temporary impossibility of President Maduro to fulfill the duties for which he was elected by the Venezuelan people, due to the kidnapping perpetrated by a foreign government, and ordered the Vice President to serve as acting president.
• By ordering Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to assume the Presidency of the Republic, the Constitutional Chamber emphasized: «In the current state of manifest urgency and certain threat, it is imperative, necessary, and proportionate to provisionally mandate that this function be exercised immediately to facilitate the preservation of the Nation’s interests against the foreign aggression currently being faced.»