Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez has publicly pushed back against Washington in a rare first since the US military invasion and overthrow of Nicolás Maduro, assering she has had "enough" of US directives.
While President Trump initially declared that Washington would effectively "run" Venezuela, he later endorsed Rodríguez as a temporary caretaker during the transition, despite her being as hardcore a Leftist pro-Maduro figure as anyone.
"Enough already of Washington’s orders regarding politicians in Venezuela," Rodríguez told oil workers gathered in Puerto La Cruz on Sunday, in remarks broadcast on state television.
She further urged that Venezuela’s political disputes be handled internally, saying: "Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and our internal conflicts" - and warned that the small oil-rich country has already paid a steep price confronting what she described as fascism and extremism.
Rodríguez soon after being sworn in had vowed that no "foreign agent" would rule Venezuela or reduce it to a "colony" - despite that Trump has made clear that his appointed team of American officials would effectively run the country and its oil.
Among the first US actions has been to cut off Venezuela's oil supply to nearby ally Cuba, which threatens to sink the island-nation's economy further, after it has endured many decades of Washington sanctions.
Despite this big talk of distancing herself from American interests, Rodríguez warmly greeted CIA Director John Ratcliffe this month, and there was even a photo op. Ratcliffe, as the first top US official to meet with her in the wake of the Jan.3rd military operation, reportedly delivering Trump's conditions for resetting relations.
The fact that she has even remained in power this long suggests that she is playing ball behind the scenes, and that any anti-American public declarations are primarily for domestic consumption.
Domestic messaging: ...has to pretend otherwise not to upset her support base:
Delcy continues to pretend like she is a tough anti-imperialist leader who defies Washinton while behind the scenes Trump can make her do whatever he want and she is only running Venezuela 🇻🇪 at his mercy
— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) January 25, 2026
She knows this, but has to pretend otherwise not to upset her support base https://t.co/qvaPqqHLla
A fresh Monday report in the NY Times summarizes where things stand:
Three weeks after U.S. forces whisked President Nicolás Maduro away from Caracas, the capital, his vice president and replacement, Delcy Rodríguez, is rapidly liberalizing the economy without ceding any political control in an autocratic nation.
With President Trump’s blessing, Ms. Rodríguez has moved to redirect Venezuela’s oil exports from China to the much more lucrative market in the United States. Earlier this month she funneled the first tranche from these oil sales, $300 million, to Venezuela’s banking system, halting the collapse of the national currency and putting hyperinflation fears to rest.
She is rapidly rewriting laws to bring in foreign investment and boost wages, leading many economists to forecast double-digit economic growth in Venezuela this year. She is promising economic transparency and accountability, an implicit recognition of years of looting of state funds by the government that she has served for decades.
Anticipation of an economic windfall has sparked a rally on Caracas's thinly traded stock exchange and driven a sharp jump in real estate prices, NYT also describes. The country's long-defaulted bonds have climbed, fueled by speculation that the former Maduro number two could move to restructure the country's debt, also in anticipation of Washington potentially rolling back sanctions.
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