As Delcy Rodríguez chaired her first cabinet meeting as acting president of Venezuela on Sunday, portraits of her two predecessor leaders appeared on the wall in front of her.
Hugo Chávez, who turned Venezuela into a socialist state, and Nicolás Maduro, who continued Chávez’s legacy and pushed the country further into dictatorship until he was captured by US forces on Saturday.
Mr. Rodríguez, 56, was a prominent figure in the Chávez and Maduro governments, serving as Maduro’s oil minister and vice president. Rodriguez, the daughter of a Marxist revolutionary, relentlessly defended the Maduro government against accusations of drug trafficking and election fraud. She will be responsible for Chavismo, a Venezuelan socialist movement reeling from the overthrow of its leader.
But there is another person monitoring her actions as the country’s interim leader: US President Donald Trump.
Despite Rodriguez’s Chavismo credentials, President Trump said he believed she was “willing to do essentially what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
But Trump’s praise also includes a threat. “If she doesn’t do the right thing, she’s going to pay a very high price, probably more than Maduro,” Trump told The Atlantic.
Rodriguez, who was officially sworn in as acting president on Monday, is currently walking a political tightrope as he tries to protect Venezuela’s shaky sovereignty without angering Washington.
Such tensions are already becoming evident. Rodriguez initially denounced the U.S. capture of Maduro as “barbaric” and a blatant violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty. The next day, she struck a more conciliatory tone, proposing an “agenda of cooperation” with the United States.
Rodriguez was born in Caracas and studied law at the Central University of Venezuela. Her father, Jorge Antonio Rodriguez, was arrested in 1976 on suspicion of involvement in the kidnapping of American businessman William Niehaus. He died in police custody.
Delcy Rodriguez has spent more than two decades since Chavez’s death in 2013 as one of the leading figures in Chavismo, the political movement founded by Chavez and led by Maduro.
Along with her brother Jorge Rodríguez, the current speaker of Congress, she has held various positions of power since the Chávez era. She served as Minister of Communications and Information from 2013 to 2014 and then Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2017. In that role, she defended the Maduro government against international criticism, including domestic democratic backsliding and alleged human rights abuses.
As foreign minister, Rodriguez represented Venezuela in forums such as the United Nations, accusing other governments of trying to undermine his country.
After the opposition won the 2015 parliamentary elections, Rodriguez became president of the National Constituent Assembly in 2017, expanding the government’s powers. In 2018, President Maduro was appointed vice president for a second term. She remained in office during the president’s third term, which began on January 10, 2025, after the controversial July 28, 2024 election. She served as Venezuela’s top economic official and oil minister until the president’s arrest.
Venezuela’s opposition claims the 2024 election was fraudulent and that Maduro is not the legitimately elected president. They argue that the real winner is former ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia, a position that some governments in the region also support.
José Manuel Romano, a constitutional lawyer and political analyst, told CNN that Rodríguez’s previous positions showed she was a “very prominent” figure within the Venezuelan government and someone who enjoyed Maduro’s “full trust.”
Rodriguez is “a very capable operator and a woman with strong leadership skills to manage a team,” Romano said.
“She is very results-oriented and has great influence across government institutions, including the Ministry of Defence. In the current situation, it is very important to note this,” he added.
Is the path towards understanding with the US on track?
Hours after Maduro’s arrest, and before Rodriguez spoke to the National Defense Council, President Trump said at a news conference that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to her. According to President Trump, she appears ready to work with Washington on a new phase in Venezuela.
“She had a conversation with Marco. She said, ‘We’re going to do whatever you need to do.’ I think she was very gracious. We’re going to do this right,” Trump said.
But Trump’s comments surprised some analysts who believe Rodriguez is unlikely to concede to the United States.
“She is not a moderate alternative to Mr. Maduro. She is one of the most powerful and hardline figures in the entire system,” Imdat Oner, a policy analyst at the Jack D. Gordon Institute and a former Turkish diplomat based in Venezuela, told CNN.
“Her rise to power appears to be the result of some kind of understanding between the US and key actors preparing a post-Maduro scenario. In that context, she will essentially be playing an interim role until a democratically elected leader takes office,” the analyst added.
CNN previously reported that U.S. officials were focusing on Rodriguez. They believe Mr. Rodriguez can create a stable transition and provide a more professional relationship than Mr. Maduro. And perhaps most importantly, it will ensure that future U.S. energy investments are protected.
