Venezuela VP Delcy Rodriguez takes charge

Tuesday, 06 January 2025 | Web Desk

A classified CIA assessment presented to President Donald Trump concluded that senior loyalists to Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro—most notably Vice President Delcy Rodríguez—were best positioned to maintain stability in Venezuela if the tyrant leader lost power, according to two sources briefed on the matter.

Two sources briefed on the matter confirmed the exclusive reported by the Wall Street Journal. According to report, this was the key factor in the Trump administration’s controversial decision to back Rodríguez over opposition leader María Corina Machado following Maduro’s ouster.

The Intelligence Briefing

The sources revealed that President Trump was personally briefed on the CIA’s findings, which were shared with a small circle of his senior national security team. The analysis argued that figures within Maduro’s inner circle, despite their ties to the regime, had the institutional control necessary to prevent a complete collapse of the state.

“The president and his national security team are making realistic decisions to finally ensure Venezuela aligns with the interests of the United States, and becomes a better country for the Venezuelan people,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement that declined to confirm the specific report.

Machado’s Defiant Response

The move drew immediate and fierce condemnation from the Venezuelan opposition. In her first televised interview since the change in power, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition figure María Corina Machado slammed the U.S. pivot to Rodríguez.

Speaking to Sean Hannity on Fox News from an undisclosed location, Machado rejected Interim President Delcy Rodríguez outright, calling her “one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, [and] narcotrafficking” under Maduro.

“She is rejected by the Venezuelan people,” Machado asserted. “In free and fair elections, we will win by over 90% of the votes, I have no doubt about it.”

A Path Forward vs. a Clean Break

The incident highlights the stark dilemma facing Venezuela’s future:
The Stability Argument: The CIA assessment represents a pragmatic, though controversial, view that an orderly transition through existing power structures could avoid chaos.
The Democratic Mandate: Machado and the opposition argue that true legitimacy can only come from a clean break with the Maduro regime and the will of the Venezuelan people expressed at the ballot box.

Machado vowed to return to Venezuela “as soon as possible,” pledging to “dismantle all these criminal structures,” turn the nation into “the energy hub of the Americas,” and bring millions of exiled Venezuelans home.

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Rodríguez, who has signaled a willingness to cooperate with Washington, now faces the dual challenge of securing international recognition and confronting a domestic opposition that views her as an extension of a brutal regime.