On Saturday, uncertainty enveloped Venezuela as citizens hurried to grasp who was leading the South American nation following a U.S. military operation.
“What will happen tomorrow? What will happen in the next hour? Nobody knows,” Caracas resident Juan Pablo Petrone said.
Donald Trump put forward a startling suggestion for who would take charge: the United States, potentially in partnership with one of Maduro’s most trusted advisors.
Delcy Rodríguez has been Maduro’s vice president since 2018, supervising large portions of Venezuela’s oil-reliant economy as well as its . But she is someone the Trump administration , at least for the time being.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump told journalists regarding Rodríguez—who faced U.S. sanctions during his first term for her role in undermining Venezuelan democracy.
Lines stretched through grocery stores and outside fuel stations as Venezuelans—long accustomed to crises—stocked up supplies once more. Small pro-government demonstrations erupted in some areas of Caracas, yet most streets stayed quiet in the nation of 29 million people.
In a significant rebuff, Trump stated that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was , lacked the backing to govern the country.
Trump reported that Rodríguez had an extended discussion with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during which he claimed she said: “We’ll do whatever you need.”
“I think she was quite gracious,” Trump added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”
Rodríguez sought to convey strength and unity across the ruling party’s various factions, minimizing any suggestion of treachery. During comments on state television, she demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and condemned the U.S. operation as a blatant violation of the United Nations Charter.
“There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro,” Rodríguez said, surrounded by top civilian officials and military commanders.
There were no immediate indications that the U.S. was governing Venezuela.
No sign of a swearing-in
Trump suggested that Rodríguez had already been inaugurated as Venezuela’s president, in line with the constitutional rules for power transfer. However, state television has not broadcast any swearing-in ceremony.
During her televised address, Rodríguez did not declare herself acting president or mention a political transition. A ticker at the bottom of the screen identified her as the vice president. She gave no sign that she would be cooperating with the U.S.
“What is being done to Venezuela is an atrocity that violates international law,” she said. “History and justice will make the extremists who promoted this armed aggression pay.”
Venezuela’s constitution also mandates that a new election must be held within a month if the president is absent. But experts have been debating whether the succession scenario would apply here, given the government’s and the .
Venezuelan military officials were quick to show defiance in video messages.
“They have attacked us but will not break us,” said Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino López, dressed in fatigues.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello appeared on state TV in a helmet and flak jacket, urging Venezuelans to “trust in the political leadership and military” and “get out on the streets” to defend the country’s sovereignty.
“These rats attacked and they will regret what they did,” he said of the U.S.
Caracas residents like Yanire Lucas were left cleaning up shattered glass and other debris after an early-morning explosion at a military base adjacent to her house.
“What is happening is unprecedented,” Lucas said, adding that her family is scared to leave home. “We’re still on edge, and now we’re uncertain about what to do.”
Strong ties with Wall Street
A lawyer educated in Britain and France, Rodríguez has a long track record of representing the revolution started by the on the world stage.
She and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, head of the , have strong leftist credentials rooted in tragedy. Their father was a socialist leader who died in police custody in the 1970s—a crime that shook many activists of the era, including a young Maduro.
Unlike many in Maduro’s inner circle, the Rodríguez siblings have avoided criminal indictment in the U.S. Delcy Rodríguez has built strong ties with Republicans in the oil industry and on Wall Street who opposed the notion of U.S.-led regime change.
Among her past interlocutors was Blackwater founder Erik Prince and, more recently, Richard Grenell—a Trump special envoy who tried to negotiate a deal with Maduro for greater U.S. influence in Venezuela.
Fluent in English, Rodríguez is sometimes portrayed as a well-educated moderate in contrast to the military hardliners who took up arms with Chávez against Venezuela’s democratically elected president in the 1990s.
Many of them, especially Cabello, are wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges and stand accused of serious human rights abuses. But they continue to hold sway over the armed forces—the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela.
This presents major challenges to Rodríguez asserting authority. But experts say that Venezuela’s power brokers have long had a habit of closing ranks behind their leaders.
“These leaders have all seen the value of staying united. Cabello has always taken a second seat or third seat, knowing that his fate is tied up with Maduro’s, and now he very well might do that again,” said David Smilde, a sociology professor at Tulane University who has conducted research into Venezuela’s political dynamics over the past three decades.
“A lot depends on what happened last night, which officials were taken out, what the state of the military looks like now,” Smilde said. “If it doesn’t have much firepower anymore, they’re more vulnerable and diminished and it will be easier for her to gain control.”
An apparent snub of the opposition
Shortly before Trump’s press conference, Machado—the opposition leader—called on her ally — a retired diplomat widely considered to have won the — to “immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as commander-in-chief.”
In a triumphant statement, Machado promised that her movement would “restore order, free , build an exceptional country and bring our children back home.”
She added: “Today we are prepared to assert our mandate and take power.”
Asked about Machado, Trump was blunt: “I think it would be very tough for (Machado) to be the leader,” he said.
“She doesn’t have the support or respect within the country.”
Venezuelans expressed shock, with many speculating on social media that Trump had mixed up the two women’s names. Machado has not responded to Trump’s remarks.