An emergency order from the Venezuelan government appears to criminalize support for the U.S. attack.

 

Maria Abi-Habib

Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

Jan. 6, 2026, 8:18 p.m. ET2 hours ago

Maria Abi-Habib and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/06/world/venezuela-maduro-us-trump

 

An emergency order from the Venezuelan government appears to criminalize support for the U.S. attack.

 

A 90-day emergency order from the Venezuelan government appears to order the police to “immediately search and capture” anyone who supports “the armed attack by the United States,” among other directives that would further crack down on civil liberties in a country already under authoritarian rule.

 

The document, which was obtained by The New York Times, appears to be the emergency decree that was first mentioned by Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim leader, during her public address to the country on Saturday, shortly after the capture of Nicolás Maduro. During her speech, she specified that the decree was being sent to the Venezuelan Supreme Court and would be in effect “from this point on.”

 

“We are ready to defend Venezuela, we are ready to defend our natural resources,” Ms. Rodríguez said.

 

It is unclear if the document has been formally published into law as it does not appear on the website of the official gazette, the newspaper of the Venezuelan government — a necessary step to consider a law or decree legally binding. But the document has been widely circulated among local media outlets and nonprofit organizations, and cited by the United Nations.

 

The document also bears the signature of Mr. Maduro; however, given that it mentions the U.S. incursion that led to his capture, analysts have expressed doubts as to how he could have signed such a document while he was being captured.

 

The document mandates the deployment of the armed forces across Venezuela and along its borders, ordering the military to temporarily take over the country’s oil industry and other public services, including strategic infrastructure.

 

The extent to which the decree could be enforced against civilians in the streets or to control the country’s vast oil reserves and infrastructure remains to be seen.

 

For some experts, the document mostly expresses on paper how the Venezuelan government has long been silencing dissenting voices and consolidating power under the country’s military forces.

 

For example, the document orders “the militarization of public service infrastructure, the oil industry, and other basic state industries,” and says that the personnel of those services or companies should be “temporarily subject to military regulations.”

 

However, “that was happening before,” said Juan Carlos Apitz, a constitutional lawyer at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. “What’s happening now is that they are formalizing it.”

 

Depending on how the decree is enforced, it may conflict with President Trump’s promise on Saturday to get U.S. oil companies into Venezuela to “spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure.”

 

But the part of the decree that has raised the most attention inside Venezuela is its fifth article, which allows national, state and municipal police forces to arrest any person suspected of promoting or participating in the recent U.S. incursion.

 

“The issue here is who determines this, what criteria is used,” Mr. Apitz said. “Would a WhatsApp message be enough to say someone is supporting the U.S. attack?”

 

In Venezuela, groups of armed men in civilian clothes, known as colectivos, have set up checkpoints to detain people and search their phones. The decree empowers the colectivos to detain people and conduct such searches. Before, such actions were led by the police.

 

The document also gives Ms. Rodríguez — Mr. Maduro’s former vice president, who was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim leader on Monday — unlimited power to restrict entry into Venezuela, close the country’s borders and suspend people’s right to congregate, protest and move about freely.

 

Mr. Apitz said the Venezuelan authorities might use the decree to justify the detention of anyone they suspect responsible for seizing Mr. Maduro.

 

“The decree is the ultimate proof that we’re facing a wounded beast,” Mr. Apitz said, adding that he saw it as “an excuse” to target people who might have allowed Mr. Maduro’s capture. “There is mutual recrimination among them about who handed Maduro over. That is the big question right now: Who handed Maduro over?”

 

Jack Nicas contributed reporting.