By DAVID OLASEINDE and GERARD COUZENS

Published: 12:30 GMT, 4 January 2026 | Updated: 00:29 GMT, 5 January 2026

Colombia's former vice–president claims Nicolas Maduro's second-in-command Delcy Rodriguez 'handed him over' to the US.

Francisco Santos says he is 'absolutely certain' that the woman due to be formally sworn in as Venezuela's new interim leader tomorrow betrayed Nicolas Maduro by handing him over to the US.  

Speculation has mounted since yesterday's US military assault on Caracas that led to Maduro's capture that the Americans had help from inside.

Donald Trump has claimed Maduro's second–in–command Delcy Rodriguez will help the US run Venezuela despite her appearing to contradict him by demanding the immediate release of the former bus driver and his wife Cilia Flores and insisting her country will 'never be anyone's colony'.

Overnight Santos, vice–president of Venezuela's neighbour Colombia for eight years between 2002 and 2010 and later Colombian ambassador to the US, named Rodriguez as the person who sold out Maduro.

He told Colombian cable television news channel NTN24, contradicting a presenter who had claimed the States removed Maduro from Venezuela in an 'impressive operation': 'They didn't remove him, they handed him over.

'I'm absolutely certain Delcy Rodriguez handed him over.

'All the information we have, you start to put it together and say, 'Oh, this was an operation in which they handed him over.

Delcy Rodriguez (pictured) has accused the States of kidnapping Maduro. Yesterday she demanded his immediate release from a New York prison and insisted: 'History and justice will make the extremists who have provoked this armed aggression against our country pay'

Francisco Santos (pictured) says he is 'absolutely certain' Rodriguez betrayed Nicolas Maduro by handing him over to the US

US Army Delta Force soldiers snatched Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores (both pictured) from their Caracas compound Friday night before extraditing them on drug trafficking charges

'Obviously, they have to set the stage.

'President Trump says that Delcy is going to be the one to lead the transition, so Delcy is going to be the one to lead the transition.

'She's very clear about the role she's going to play and she's going to try to earn a little bit of independence.'

Describing the US president's actions as 'very pragmatic', he added: 'Trump took three decisions which were, 'I'll take Maduro, I'll establish a transition with someone from the regime and I'll seek financing and profits from oil companies.' 

Santos, Colombia's Ambassador to the States from September 2018 to 2020, went on to describe Delcy Rodriguez as someone who represented 'one of the least bad options' for Trump's administration for the time being.