Who is Delcy Rodriguez, who took Maduro's place. Trump's puppet or Venezuela's defender?

Delcy Rodriguez during her swearing-in on January 5. Photo: Jesus Vargas / Getty Images

She is Maduro's right-hand woman and the country's vice president. That is why the Supreme Court transferred to her the powers of head of state during Maduro's "forced absence".

Rodriguez immediately appeared in public surrounded by the most influential functionaries and security officials and began making hawkish statements directed at the United States, as if demonstrating that Maduro's abduction had led neither to a change of regime, nor to a change in the country's course, nor to a split in the elites.

"There is only one president in Venezuela, and his name is Nicolas Maduro," Rodriguez said and promised to defend independence. "Our people do not surrender, do not capitulate, and will never become a colony of any empire — neither old, nor new, nor fading."

Donald Trump has a different opinion.

When asked who is now in charge in Venezuela, Trump simply replied: "We control everything." He also threatened that Venezuela faces a new military operation, and Rodriguez faces something "worse than Maduro," if she does not comply with the White House's will and does not give the US "full access to everything — to oil and everything else."

"Tigress"

Delcy Rodriguez's father was a partisan and died from torture in police custody in 1976.

In search of justice, she went to study law — first in her homeland, then in France. And the Bolivarian revolution and Hugo Chávez's rise to power, as she herself admitted, became for her family a triumph of "personal revenge" against the previous government for her father. Delcy's 56-year-old older brother, Jorge Rodriguez, also entered politics. He now heads Venezuela's National Assembly.

Delcy Rodriguez's career under Chávez led her to a ministerial post, but her real breakthrough came after his death and Nicolas Maduro's rise to power.

Under him, she at various times headed the ministries of communications, economy, and foreign affairs, and eventually became vice president, also responsible for the oil and gas industry — effectively the sole source of income for impoverished Venezuela.

Maduro nicknamed Rodriguez the "tigress" for her passionate devotion to the ideas of Chavismo. She was his right-hand woman both domestically and abroad.

"Delcy works in tandem with her brother. Her role is more practical than intellectual. They are both well-educated people who filled the void created by the complete departure of competent specialists from the government," political scientist Nicmer Evans said in an interview with BBC Mundo in 2024.

The Face of the Regime

Delcy Rodriguez effectively became the face of the Maduro regime, which came under Western sanctions for suppressing freedoms and falsifying elections in Venezuela.

Maduro himself has rarely traveled abroad recently, and Rodriguez played a key role in relations with allied countries — such as Turkey, China, and Iran. The assertive and restless Rodriguez frequently provoked scandals. After Venezuela was excluded from the South American trade bloc MERCOSUR, she tried to force her way into its meeting in Buenos Aires. And in 2020, she flew to Spain on a private jet, despite a ban on entry into the Schengen Area.

The US and the European Union imposed sanctions against Rodriguez for human rights violations and the destruction of democracy in Venezuela.

Rodriguez always condemned the US and fiercely defended the right of Maduro and his inner circle to build socialism according to Hugo Chávez's precepts and to continue the eternal struggle against American imperialism, a fight to the death.

Now she finds herself in a situation where she will have to work under Washington's dictate — and in the face of Trump's promised military intervention if she does not comply.

Rodriguez has already shown flexibility. After initial combative statements, she softened her tone.

"We invite the US authorities to work together on an agenda for bilateral cooperation," she said, addressing Trump. "President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war."

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