It took a controversial US military strike, but for the first time in its 181-year history, Venezuela has a female president – at least for now. 56-year-old Vice President Delcy Rodríguez is the new leader of the Chavista regime, now that its political boss Nicolás Maduro has been captured by the US and is in a New York cell awaiting trial for alleged drug trafficking.
In the first chaotic hours after Maduro’s kidnapping, it was unclear on Saturday where Rodríguez was staying. According to multiple reports, she was in Moscow. State media played an audio clip of her demanding in a high tone that the US give a sign of life from Maduro and his wife Cilia. At the end of the Venezuelan afternoon, Rodríguez turned out not to be in Russia after all and she appeared on state television, which introduced her as Vice Presidenta. In her speech, she also said that Maduro was still the president and called for his “immediate release.”
However, approximately two hours earlier, American President Donald Trump and his Foreign Minister Marco Rubio had already hoisted her on the shield as the new de facto ruler in Venezuela. Rubio had had a long telephone conversation with her and she was said to be willing to cooperate with the Americans. Trump even called her a more suitable candidate to lead the country than opposition leader and peace prize laureate María Corina Machado, who he said lacks “respect” in Venezuela.
Only at the end of the long Saturday, January 3, 2026, did the Supreme Court rule that Maduro was “forced absent” due to his kidnapping, creating “an extraordinary and atypical force majeure situation not literally provided for by the Constitution.” But because the country must be governed and “protected from foreign threats”, the high judges ordered that Rodríguez immediately take over all presidential duties as an ‘observer’. This means that new elections are not necessary.
Beheaded, not overthrown
The fact that Trump and Rubio like her – for this moment – is partly opportunism. By ‘merely’ beheading the Maduro regime and not completely overthrowing it, no unpredictable power vacuum will be created in which the country could descend into chaos or civil war. This White House is not committed to democratic and good governance in the region. There must be regimes with whom Washington can do business, whether it concerns oil or the fight against immigration and crime.
Maduro also offered the US such cooperation in his twilight years. But the Trump administration only settled for his departure from power. An exile in Turkey would have turned Maduro off, after which he bluffed that the Americans should come for him – which they did on Saturday.
That operation went so smoothly for the Pentagon that the Americans almost certainly had cooperation from within the government. This does not mean that the US has succeeded in specifically extricating Rodríguez and her brother Jorge, the powerful speaker of parliament. But by so readily embracing her as temporary president, the US is making it clear that it is not immediately aiming for a transition to democracy. This means that the 27-year-old Chavista project will survive for the time being.
After the death of founder Hugo Chávez (in 2013) and the imprisonment of Maduro, it is now up to Rodríguez to lead this originally left-populist, ‘anti-imperialist’ (read: anti-American) movement into a new phase. Ideologically, however, the socialist ruling party PSUV has been declining for years into a vehicle for self-enrichment; a criminal web of corrupt party leaders and generals who are each allowed to exploit their own oil field, drug line or illegal gold mine. Rodríguez and her brother have been part of this network for two decades.
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Pragmatic Oil Minister
Raised in a family of Marxist dissidents, Rodríguez held various top positions first under Chávez and later under Maduro. She was Minister of Foreign Affairs, President of the Constituent Assembly, Minister of Economy and Finance, Vice President since 2018 and also Minister of Oil for the past two years.
In the latter role, she would have been noticed positively by the Americans. Although ideologically just as loyal to Chavismo as the rest of the top leadership, she proved to be economically pragmatic. The once profitable oil industry could only be revived with foreign investment, she realized.
To that end, it was prepared to enter into dialogue with the so-called imperialist enemy. For example, the American petrogiant Chevron was able to enter into another joint venture with state oil company PdVSA. A collaboration for which Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden granted an exception to American sanctions and which was extended last year. The fact that Rodríguez militantly announced on Saturday that Venezuelan mineral resources will not be plundered seems mainly rhetoric.
Trump now has a more intelligent and pragmatic interlocutor in Caracas. Rodríguez said he was “willing to establish relationships based on respect and within international legal frameworks.” At the same time, it is radical enough to hold back a transition to democracy for as long as possible.
The police state she inherits immediately made this clear on Saturday. During her TV speech, she was flanked by Interior Minister Díosdado Cabello, responsible for the harshest repression. While citizens formed long lines at supermarkets and pharmacies, there were plenty of patrols in the capital colectivosregime thugs of armed men on motorcycles. Venezuelans who hoped that Maduro would quickly end the dictatorship will have to be much more patient.
‘Colectivos’, regime gangs of armed men on motorcycles.
Photo ASSOCIATED PRESS
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