Trump touts himself as 'Acting President of Venezuela' on social media

It might be Trump time in Venezuela.

Just days after jokingly endorsing his secretary of state to serve as president of Cuba, President Donald Trump indicated on Jan. 11 that he might be interested in a similar role in another nation in the Western Hemisphere.

Trump shared a doctored Wikipedia page calling himself the "Acting President of Venezuela" in a Truth Social post, less than 10 days after U.S. forces captured the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores on Jan. 3.

Delcy Rodríguez, the country’s vice president under Maduro who was sworn in as Venezuela's new interim president last week, has said she wants to collaborate with the U.S. administration.

"We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence," she said in an Instagram post on Jan. 4.

Maduro and his wife have been arraigned in a Manhattan federal court on charges including drug trafficking and have pleaded not guilty. They are in U.S. custody in Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is coming to the United States "next week sometime" Trump said in an interview on the Fox News show "Hannity" on Jan. 8.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has held multiple titles since the start of the year including Acting National Security Advisor, Acting USAID Administrator and Acting Archivist of the U.S., might be bracing for another title.

Trump threatened Cuba in a Truth Social on Jan. 11, asking it to "make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE," saying the flow of Venezuelan oil to the country would soon stop.

"Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided 'Security Services' for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Jan. 11. "Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last weeks U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years."

A social media user presaged Trump’s message to Cuba on Jan. 8, predicting Rubio could be Cuba’s next president.

 "Sounds good to me," Trump responded.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal