A power vacuum has opened up in Venezuela after President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that its leader Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. 

Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: “The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.”

Trump said in November that Maduro’s days as president were numbered, and his succession is likely to be mired in uncertainty and speculation. Here Newsweek looks at some of the contenders who could take over.

María Corina Machado and Edmundo González 

María Corina Machado, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, is one of the frontrunners to replace Maduro.

She heads the Vente Venezuela party and overwhelmingly won a 2023 presidential primary, but was blocked from running for president by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. 

Christopher Sabatini, senior research fellow at the London think tank Chatham House, told Newsweek that Machado is the preferred choice for Washington and Democrats around the world. But he added that “the question is how complicated it will be to get there.”

There are obstacles to her path to the job given that she has said she will not accept an interim government. She wants to see the legitimate democratically elected government take power, but “that is not a clear path to power,” Sabatini said.

He added that the Maduro regime, many of whom are under U.S. sanctions, will do everything it can to stay in power.

“It’s not really in their interest to step aside and allow Maria Carina Machado into the presidential palace precisely because she herself has talked about ensuring justice for those who commit human rights abuses or engaged in illicit activities,” he said.

“To what extent the Trump administration is willing to exercise diplomatic or even military muscle to try to exert her arrival is unclear.”

A similar obstacle faces Edmundo González, the opposition candidate who was widely considered to have beaten Maduro in the 2024 election.

Maduro’s party claimed victory and the country’s highest court upheld his re-election in a move that was condemned by much of the international community, including Washington. An arrest warrant was later issued for González, and he fled to Spain amid concerns for his safety. 

However, a Gonzalez presidency would be contingent on the complete collapse of the Maduro government or some negotiations, Sabatini said. 

“But the path to power with the remnants of the Maduro government that are still there, competing among themselves to succeed him, is by no means straightforward,” he said.

Delcy Rodríguez and Jorge Rodríguez

According to the Venezuelan constitution, Maduro’s vice president Delcy Rodríguez would be first in line. She has ties with Venezuela’s economic elites, foreign investors and diplomats. But Sabatini said she would not be the preferred candidate of the Democratic opposition.  

Rodríguez and her her brother Jorge Rodriguez, the president of the National Assembly, are deeply implicated in the Maduro regime’s repression, electoral theft, and elements of corruption, Sabatini said. Delcy Rodríguez is also under U.S. sanctions.

“The question is what is the tolerance of this Trump administration for having the remnants of a Maduro government sticking around?,” Sabatini said.

Vladimir Padrino López and Diosdado Cabello 

Other possible candidates include Venezuela’s highest-ranking officer, General Vladimir Padrino López, who is a staunch defender of Maduro and has suppressed opposition protests. 

Another contender is interior minister Diosdado Cabello, a retired lieutenant close to Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

Update 01/03/26,11.00 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.