Who Is Delcy Rodriguez? 10 Red Flags Behind Venezuela’s Interim President
Venezuela is not a country where anyone expected to see a woman in power. But that’s a story for another day.
On Saturday at 2 a.m., U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and flew him to the United States, where he now faces federal charges related to narco-trafficking. Hours later, Delcy Rodriguez, his vice president, was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president. Since then, she has become the main interlocutor between Caracas and Washington.
For some, the headline sounds historic. “Venezuela’s first woman president ever.” For others, especially Venezuelans inside and outside the country, the reaction has been far more cautious.
Because Delcy Rodriguez is not a blank slate. She is one of the most powerful operators the Chavista system has ever produced.
Below are ten worrying things you should know about Delcy Rodriguez.
This is not a symbolic presidency. Delcy Rodriguez is the system
Delcy Rodriguez did not rise by accident. She has spent more than two decades inside the core of Chavismo.
According to NBC News, Rodriguez is a “stalwart” of both the Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro governments, having served across communications, foreign affairs, the Constituent Assembly, the vice presidency, finance, and oil. Until Maduro’s capture, she served as Venezuela’s chief economic authority and minister of petroleum.
Now, that’s a résumé you probably didn’t expect. In truth, she is not filling a vacuum. She is the vacuum-proof option.
Delcy Rodriguez comes from revolutionary trauma that still shapes her politics
Rodriguez was born in Caracas on May 18, 1969. Her father, Jorge Antonio Rodriguez, was a Marxist guerrilla and co-founder of the Socialist League.
In 1976, he was arrested in connection with the kidnapping of American businessman William F. Niehous and later died in police custody. NBC News reported that Rodriguez has described the Bolivarian Revolution as “our revenge for the death of our father and his executioners.”
This gives us the beginning of the character’s arch. It frames Rodriguez’s politics as moral retribution, as time would prove true. It also explains why Rodriguez can speak the language of diplomacy while holding a worldview rooted in grievance and power.
Her education makes Delcy Rodriguez unusually prepared and unusually dangerous
Rodríguez is one of the most academically trained politicians Venezuela has produced.
She earned her law degree from the Central University of Venezuela in 1993, studied labor law in Paris, and later pursued graduate studies in social policy at Birkbeck, University of London. She taught at the Central University of Venezuela and led the Venezuelan Association of Labor Lawyers.
She speaks English and French fluently. She understands international institutions. And she knows how Western governments think.
In our current context, that preparation does not make her moderate. It makes her effective.
Delcy Rodriguez learned how to survive Hugo Chávez by falling out with him
Rodriguez entered politics after the failed 2002 coup against Hugo Chávez. She helped coordinate international media outreach from London during the crisis, including interviews with CNN and the BBC.
Chávez initially valued her legal advice. Then he stopped trusting her.
Multiple Venezuelan outlets reported that Rodríguez clashed directly with Chávez in 2006, including a confrontation during a trip to Moscow that led to her removal from his inner circle. Chávez reportedly ordered her excluded from government roles.
She disappeared from power. Then, she waited.
That waiting paid off.
Maduro brought Delcy Rodriguez back because she does the dirty work well
After Chávez’s death in 2013, Nicolás Maduro restored Rodriguez to power. He named her minister of communication, then foreign minister, then president of the Constituent Assembly, and finally vice president.
Rodriguez became one of Maduro’s fiercest defenders on the international stage, attacking critics at the OAS, Mercosur, and the United Nations.
Maduro once called her a “tiger,” according to NBC News. He rewarded loyalty, aggression, and results.
Delcy Rodriguez ran Venezuela’s economic pivot without fixing corruption
In 2020, Maduro appointed Rodriguez as minister of economy and finance. She oversaw a pragmatic shift in Venezuela’s economy: The government tolerated dollarization, price controls eased, and private actors returned quietly.
The economy stabilized for some. Inequality exploded for others.
The New York Times described the shift as a move from “corrupt socialism” to “corrupt laissez-faire capitalism.” In other words, Rodriguez did not dismantle corruption. She reorganized it.
Delcy Rodriguez controls oil, and oil explains Washington’s interest
In 2024, Rodriguez became Venezuela’s minister of petroleum. This role placed her in charge of the country’s most strategic sector at the same time U.S. sanctions tightened, and backchannel negotiations expanded.
The Miami Herald reported that President Donald Trump described an arrangement under which the United States would “run” Venezuela’s oil sector during a transition, with American officials working alongside Venezuelans to rebuild infrastructure.
Trump dismissed opposition leader María Corina Machado and emphasized that Venezuela already had a vice president.
That vice president was Delcy Rodriguez.
Delcy Rodriguez is sanctioned almost everywhere she travels
Rodriguez does not move freely.
According to U.S. Treasury records, she has been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, and Colombia for undermining democracy, human rights violations, and corruption.
However, then came Delcygate.
Delcy Rodriguez and Delcygate show how power really works
On January 20, 2020, Rodriguez landed at Madrid-Barajas Airport on a private Turkish-flagged flight, despite being banned from entering EU territory.
According to Spanish court records, Rodriguez met privately with Spain’s transport minister José Luis Ábalos. Spanish authorities later confirmed the meeting after initial denials.
Investigators later uncovered communications and documents tied to the alleged sale of 104 Venezuelan gold bars worth roughly $68 million. Spain’s Guardia Civil reportedly found messages linking Rodriguez to intermediaries discussing the transaction.
The case was initially closed on jurisdictional grounds. In 2024, new evidence revived it.
Delcy Rodriguez’s personal circle raises more questions than answers
Rodriguez’s partner, Yussef Abou Nassif Smaili, is a Venezuelan businessman of Lebanese descent.
According to Spanish and Venezuelan reporting, he owns multiple companies and has been linked by journalists to food import schemes tied to the state.
Trump did not pick Delcy Rodriguez for the military. He picked her for the business
This is the central point.
According to CNN and the Miami Herald, U.S. officials believe Rodriguez can provide continuity, protect energy investments, and manage a controlled transition. Trump told reporters she was “gracious” and “willing to do what we think is necessary.”
Rodriguez, meanwhile, called Maduro’s capture a kidnapping on state television, then offered an “agenda of cooperation” with Washington on Instagram the next day.
That contradiction, however, is a typical Chavista move: it is not confusion. It is leverage.
Trump did not pick Delcy Rodriguez because she controls the armed forces. He picked her because she understands the deals, the money, the sanctions, and the pressure points.
She has been doing this work for years.
