Delcy Rodriguez, previously vice president of Venezuela, was sworn in on Monday as the acting president of the country, after President Nicolas Maduro was taken by force on January 3 during a U.S. military operation against the South American nation.

"I come with pain, because of the suffering that has been caused to the Venezuelan people, following an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland," Rodriguez said at a formal ceremony held in the capital Caracas.

"I swear by the people of Venezuela not to rest even a minute to guarantee the peace of the Republic," she added.

The acting president also called for unity to defend the country "in these terrible hours of threat to the stability and peace of the nation."

In the early hours of January 3, U.S. military forces carried out a series of strikes on Venezuela, taking by force Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, before putting them in custody in New York, which sparked widespread condemnation.