On Monday evening, Venezuela was thrown into turmoil as intense gunfire erupted near the presidential palace in Caracas following the removal of Nicolás Maduro from office.

Dramatic footage circulated on social media, capturing the unsettling sounds of gunfire echoing through the capital city.

Residents reported hearing ‘anti-aircraft’ explosions in the vicinity of the presidential palace, amidst ongoing street unrest since Maduro and his wife were detained and taken to the United States to face charges related to drug trafficking.

By around 8:15 PM local time, the night sky was illuminated by what appeared to be drones and anti-aircraft fire, according to those living nearby.

Eyewitnesses noted that armored vehicles made their way to the Miraflores presidential palace soon after the gunfire commenced, as military troops were dispatched to the surrounding areas to manage the escalating crisis.

A White House official told CNN the administration is aware of reports of gunfire, but assured ‘the US is not involved.’

President Donald Trump vowed on Monday to help rebuild Venezuela’s neglected infrastructure, sensationally revealing it could be 18 months before citizens are able to elect a new leader and that he would be responsible for ‘nursing’ the nation back to health in the interim.

‘We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote,’ Trump said.

‘No, it’s going to take a period of time. We have — we have to nurse the country back to health.’

Locals said ‘anti-aircraft’ blasts were heard from the general vicinity of the presidential palace after days of chaos in the streets since Maduro and his wife were captured from their home and whisked to America to face drug trafficking charges

Extraordinary vision emerged on social media on Monday night appearing to show a hail of bullets descending on Venezuela’s capital

Cilia Flores arrived at the Wall Street Heliport in New York Monday with visible bruising to her forehead and cheek. She and her husband both pled not guilty to narco-terrorism charges

It comes after Maduro declared himself ‘the president of my country’ as he protested his capture and pleaded not guilty to federal charges that the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power in Venezuela.

‘I was captured,’ Maduro said in Spanish as translated by a courtroom interpreter before being cut off by the judge. 

Asked later for his plea to the charges, he stated: ‘I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.’

Maduro’s court appearance in Manhattan, his first since he and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized from their Caracas home Saturday in a stunning middle-of-the-night military operation, kicked off the U.S. government’s most consequential prosecution in decades of a foreign head of state. She also pleaded not guilty.

The court set a next date of March 17, and no application for bail was made. 

Explosions tore across Caracas during the daring raid on early Saturday morning, as Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek Saab claimed that ‘innocents’ had been ‘mortally wounded’ by the US operation.

With details still emerging on Monday, Havana said 32 Cubans were killed in the attack, while Donald Trump suggested Cuba itself was close to collapse following Nicolás Maduro’s capture. 

‘I don’t think we need any action. It looks like it’s going down,’ Trump said.

The preliminary hearing for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro devolved into chaos as the deposed leader’s fury boiled over, sparking a shouting match with a man who claimed he had been jailed by Maduro’s regime and warned he would ‘pay’ 

Armed supporters of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro gather near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas after his ouster

The White House signaled on Sunday that it was not seeking full regime change, but rather Maduro’s removal and the installation of a compliant new government – even one staffed by many of his former allies.

Anointed by mentor Hugo Chávez before his death in 2013, Maduro maintained an iron grip on power until his dramatic capture.

Maduro’s vice president and ally Delcy Rodríguez has stepped in as interim President.

She’s part of a band of senior officials in Maduro’s administration that now appears to control Venezuela, even as U.S. President Donald Trump and other officials say they will pressure the government to fall in line with its vision for the oil-rich nation.

Trump announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been in communication with Rodríguez and that the Venezuelan leader was ‘gracious’ and would work with the American government. Rubio said Rodríguez was someone the administration could work with, unlike Maduro.

But in a televised address, Rodríguez gave no indication that she would cooperate with Trump, referring to his government as ‘extremists’ and maintaining that Maduro was Venezuela’s rightful leader.

‘What is being done to Venezuela is an atrocity that violates international law,’ Rodríguez said, surrounded by high-ranking civilian officials and military leaders.

Trump warned on Sunday, if Rodríguez didn’t fall in line, ‘she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.’ He added that he wanted her to provide ‘total access,’ from oil facilities to basic infrastructure like roads, so they can be rebuilt.

Maduro’s vice president and ally Delcy Rodríguez has stepped in as interim President

A member of the Colombian Army stands guard on the Simon Bolivar International Bridge connected to Venezuela

Venezuela’s constitution requires an election within 30 days whenever the president becomes ‘permanently unavailable’ to serve. Reasons listed include death, resignation, removal from office or ‘abandonment’ of duties as declared by the National Assembly.

That electoral timeline was rigorously followed when Maduro’s predecessor, Chavez, died of cancer in 2013. 

The loyalist Supreme Court, in its decision Saturday, cited another provision of the charter in declaring Maduro’s absence a ‘temporary’ one.

In such a scenario, there is no election requirement. Instead, the vice president, an unelected position, takes over for up to 90 days — a period that can be extended to six months with a vote of the National Assembly.

In handing temporary power to Rodríguez, the Supreme Court made no mention of the 180-day time limit, leading some to speculate she could try to remain in power even longer as she seeks to unite the disparate factions of the ruling socialist party while shielding it from what would certainly be a stiff electoral challenge.