President Donald Trump effectively declared himself “acting president of Venezuela” on Sunday, sharing on Truth Social a doctored image of his Wikipedia page displaying that title.
While we can add that to a growing list of arbitrary titles Trump has given himself since the start of his second term—such as dubbing himself “king”—the reality of Trump’s control over Venezuela is less regal.
Where the U.S. is touting its control of the South American country, there are reasons to believe that political instability is alive and well.
"We've had complete cooperation thus far from the interim authorities in Venezuela,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed on Fox News Monday.
However, colectivos—an unofficial paramilitary force supporting the regime—remain throughout the nation’s capital, Caracas, with plans to target Americans and those in support of the U.S. government.
Under Nicolás Maduro’s administration, colectivos used guns and motorbikes to patrol key areas, intimidating people believed to be aligned with the opposition. Once funded by former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, the groups have now turned to smaller-scale drug-dealing, extortion, and other avenues to fund their work, according to InSight Crime.
On Saturday, the U.S. State Department published a warning for Americans to get out of the country.
A woman sits in front of a store in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 7.
“There are reports of groups of armed militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence of U.S. citizenship or support for the United States,” the press release read. “U.S. citizens in Venezuela should remain vigilant and exercise caution when traveling by road.”
The Venezuelan government, however, denied this.
“Venezuela is in absolute calm, peace, and stability," the government reportedly said in a statement, adding that these claims were "fabricated accounts aimed at creating a perception of risk that does not exist."
As for why colectivos haven’t made a move on Americans, a source connected to the opposition inside Venezuela told Daily Kos they believe the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela, or PSUV, is waiting for the right moment to push out opposing forces.
Daily Kos’ source speculates that the armed groups haven’t begun targeting Americans because they’re waiting for a shift of power or for Congress to strip the U.S. military of the option to respond with force.
“Every time they notice pressure from the United States, they launch a campaign of strategies that helps them buy time until the administration changes its stance or a new administration comes in,” they told us.
Since Trump ordered the military to swoop in and capture Maduro on Jan. 3, there have been polarizing opinions on the president’s decision to intervene in Latin American politics.
Of course, the U.S. has a long history of sticking its nose in the country’s affairs, including a reported plan to fund a coup to overthrow Chávez. And much of the U.S.’s involvement, including present-day meddling, can be traced back to the country’s vast oil reserves.
Despite Trump calling himself Venezuela’s president, the reality is he doesn’t even have control of his main motivation for invading the country.
During a Friday roundtable between Trump and oil executives, ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said the country is “uninvestible.”
“Significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system, there has to be durable investment protections, and there has to be a change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country,” Woods said during the meeting.
Evana, an oil tanker, is docked at El Palito port in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, in December 2025.
ExxonMobil’s hesitancy is justified given that the country’s leaders have previously seized their operations.
Still, as expected, the president has rejected their perspective and has threatened to leave the oil giant out of the deal.
But with Trump swooping in at the start of 2026 to remove Maduro, he has found himself facing the same governing party that was there to begin with.
Trump claims that elections in Venezuela will eventually take place. And despite not publicly backing conservative opposition leader María Corina Machado in a presser following Maduro’s capture, a top-to-bottom regime change isn’t off the table, it seems.
On Thursday, Trump will meet with Machado, who has offered her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump, though it is nontransferrable (obviously). It’s unclear if this meeting signals a warming to the idea of backing Machado. Given the U.S.’s historical support of the opposition, it wouldn’t come as a surprise.
However, so much of this hinges on Trump maintaining any semblance of control. And no matter how many times he calls himself a king or a president of a nation other than the U.S., the reality of his control, or lack thereof, remains.
