Maduro takes office, as opposition questions SC sentence

Nicolás Maduro was sworn in as Venezuela's interim President today and promised "absolute loyalty" to late President Hugo Chávez.

"I swear that we will comply with the country's constitution with the strength of this society that is willing for freedom," Maduro stated during the ceremony.

He also said he had asked the country's election authority to call an immediate vote to choose a successor for Chávez.

Earlier today, opposition leader Henrique Capriles qualified as "political and constitutional fraud" the sentence of the Supreme Court that ratified that Nicolás Maduro could be sworn in as interim president and be presidential candidate without resigning to his post.

"Today, a painful day, the court, the only institution that worked in the whole country, ruled a sentence that's political, a constitutional fraud," Capriles assured.

He also warned that "Cuba won't rule in Venezuela, but neither will the US."