Could Maduro’s trusted lieutenants now be working for Trump?

Many who attended US President Donald Trump’s news conference on Saturday were probably expecting to hear dramatic details of how US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in an early-morning raid.

But arguably the most surprising moment came when Trump announced that, now that Maduro is in custody, the US will run Venezuela “until we have a safe, just, and prudent transition.”

In another unexpected development, he said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been talking to Maduro’s Vice President, Delsey Rodríguez, who he said was “essentially ready to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again”.

However, Rodríguez appeared less than cooperative at her press conference later, where she condemned Maduro’s detention as a kidnapping and insisted that Venezuela would not become a colony.

Given these conflicting messages, many are asking who is now in charge in Venezuela.

Under the Constitution of Venezuela, the Vice President is responsible for assuming office when the President is absent.

So, at first glance, the decision by the Venezuelan Supreme Court that Delcy Rodriguez was the country’s acting president seems to be a logical step.

But most Venezuela watchers expected the immediate aftermath of the US intervention to look different.

The US – and several other countries – did not recognise Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela after he called the 2024 election rigged.

Maduro was declared president by Venezuela’s Electoral Council (CNE), a body dominated by government loyalists.

But the CNE never presented detailed poll data to support its claim and copies of the polling data collected by the opposition and reviewed by the Carter Center showed that opposition candidate Edmundo González had won by a landslide.

In view of this, the US and dozens of other countries recognised González as president-elect.

Gonzalez, a little-known former diplomat, had the support of popular opposition leader María Corina Machado, whom she replaced on the ballot after she was barred from running for office by Maduro government officials.

With security forces cracking down on the opposition after the election, González went into exile in Spain and Machado went into hiding in Venezuela.

They have been urging Maduro to step down.

They have been urging Maduro to step down and lobbying for international support, particularly from the US, for the past 18 months.

Machado’s profile was boosted by his winning the Nobel Peace Prize for “his struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy” in Venezuela.

The publicity and recognition she received after making the risky journey from her hideout in Venezuela to Oslo to accept the award led many to assume that in any post-Maduro scenario she would return to her homeland to take over the reins of power from Edmundo González.

After Maduro’s capture, Machado posted a letter on social media declaring that “the time for freedom has come.”

“Today we are ready to implement our mandate and take power,” he wrote.

But the US president stunned journalists when he declared that Machado did not have the “support or respect” to lead the country.

Trump said his team had not spoken to Machado after the US attacks, but Marco Rubio had spoken to Delsey Rodriguez.

Trump’s next comment may explain why the Trump administration is now Maduro’s loyal lieutenant— at least for now.

Trump quoted Rodriguez as saying, “We’ll do whatever you want,” adding, “They really don’t have a choice.”

With Maduro’s inner circle still in power in Venezuela, U.S. officials may have thought that having someone from the current government assume power would provide the smoothest transition.

In his press conference, President Trump said that the US is “ready to launch a second and much larger attack if we need to do so”, making it clear why he feels Delsey Rodriguez has no choice but to do the US’s bidding.

The fact that Rodriguez was seen surrounded by some of the most powerful people in Maduro’s inner circle just hours after the president was arrested and flown out of the country shows that he has secured their support as well.

He was joined by his brother Jorge Rodríguez, who is president of Venezuela’s National Assembly; Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello; Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino; and top armed forces commander Domingo Hernández Larraz, among others.

That will cheer the U.S. officials, who were worried that Maduro’s capture would trigger a potentially destabilising battle for control among his inner circle.

But the message that Delsey Rodriguez gave to America may not have sounded so good to American ears.

He stressed that “Venezuela has only one president, and his name is Nicolás Maduro” and called his recovery “a kidnapping.”

Promising to “protect” Venezuela, he insisted, “We will never again be the colony of an empire.”

Although she certainly did not seem like the person Trump described as “willing to do America’s bidding,” there is speculation that she may have taken a nationalist stance to retain Maduro’s most loyal supporters.

Asked about Trump’s support for Rodriguez and his comments, Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday that the US will judge him based on his actions, not his words.

“Do I know what people are going to decide? I don’t know,” he added, appearing to say he was not as sure as Trump about Rodriguez’s willingness to work with the US.

What he was adamant about was the US’s desire to put pressure on Rodriguez’s interim government.

“I do know that if they don’t make the right decision, the United States will put a number of leverages in place to make sure that our interests are protected, and that includes oil quarantines, among other things,” he said.

Rubio also seemed to suggest in an interview with ABC that Venezuela should hold fresh elections.

“The government will come through a period of transition and real elections, which they have not had,” he said this week.

He also appealed for “realism”, suggesting that new elections would take time: “Everyone is asking why there are no elections tomorrow, 24 hours after Nicolás Maduro’s arrest. That’s absurd.”

Talk of new elections will undoubtedly disappoint not only María Corina Machado and Edmundo González, but also the many Venezuelans who voted for them and who have been adamant that they want to see those votes respected.

The opposition has long insisted that free and fair elections are not possible, and the key institutions involved in organising them are filled with Maduro loyalists. Reform of those bodies will take time.

Therefore, in the short term, Venezuela is likely to be governed by Delsey Rodríguez and Maduro’s inner circle – as long as they meet the Trump administration’s expectations.

How long this lasts will depend on whether Rodriguez is able to find a golden middle between Trump’s requests and accommodating Maduro’s base interests.

She might soon find herself in a difficult situation.