What is the story about?
US President Donald Trump has posted a photo of himself on his social media site Truth Social with his designation listed as "Acting President of Venezuela."
The post on Truth Social has Trump's official portrait and then the designation “Acting President of Venezuela, “Incumbent January 2026.” It seemed to be an edited Wikipedia page. It also has his designation as the 45th and 47th President of the United States, who assumed office on January 20, 2025. Earlier this month, the US carried out a “large-scale" strike against Venezuela, capturing the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, who, along with his wife Cilia Flores, was flown to New York, where they were indicted on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges.
Trump has said that the US will "run Venezuela "until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition. We can't take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn't have the interests of Venezuelans in mind."
Venezuela's vice president and oil minister, Delcy Rodriguez, was formally sworn in as the country's interim president last week.
Trump had said that the interim authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 million barrels of “high-quality, sanctioned oil” to the US, which will be sold at its market price. "That money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan immediately. It will be taken by storage ships and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States."
