Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s US-backed acting president, publicly said she has had “enough” of Washington’s orders as she tries to stabilize her interim rule after the US capture of former leader Nicolás Maduro in early January.
“Enough already of Washington’s orders over politicians in Venezuela,” she said, speaking Sunday to oil workers in Puerto La Cruz, and urged that Venezuelan politics handle “our differences and our internal conflicts.”
Her pushback comes almost a month into her role, after she walked what was described as a tight-rope between keeping Maduro loyalists on board and meeting expectations from the White House, including demands tied to oil output and geopolitical alignment.
The White House has kept pressure on Caracas since Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized in a raid in early January and taken to the US, where Maduro is facing charges.
President Donald Trump initially said the US was “going to run” Venezuela after Maduro’s capture, then backed Rodríguez as interim leader.
Earlier this month, Trump said he spoke by phone with Rodríguez, praised her as a “terrific person,” and added, “I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
Days after US strikes on Caracas in early January, two senior White House officials told CNN the Trump administration demanded Venezuela cut ties with China, Iran, Russia, and Cuba, and agree to partner exclusively with the US on oil production.
Rodríguez was also expected to prioritize the Trump administration and US oil companies for future oil sales, according to the same account.
Oil remains Venezuela’s main economic driver, and the country holds the world’s largest reserves of extra-heavy crude, which requires more complex and expensive refining but is described as compatible with US refineries.
The political terrain Rodríguez is trying to unify includes divisions among Maduro loyalists, fractures on the left opposed to the government’s direction, and “Chavistas No-Maduristas,” described as Chávez supporters who reject Maduro and accuse him of betraying 21st-century socialist ideals.
Trump also signaled interest in bringing opposition figure María Corina Machado into leadership “in some capacity.” Machado had lunch with Trump at the White House earlier this month, where she presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize.
Rodríguez was elevated through an emergency institutional handoff after Maduro’s early-January capture: Venezuela’s top court directed the sitting vice president to assume interim authority to keep the state running, the security apparatus aligned behind that transition, and the Trump administration then publicly recognized and backed her as the acting leader.
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