Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez, sworn in Monday following Nicolas Maduro’s stunning capture by U.S. forces Saturday, has a decades-long history of attempting to open Venezuela to American investment that appears to have persuaded President Donald Trump she can be a partner, though questions about democracy and constitutionally mandated elections remain unanswered. In 2017, as Venezuela’s foreign minister under the struggling Maduro administration, Rodríguez directed state oil subsidiary Citgo to donate $500,000 to Trump’s inauguration, hired his ex-campaign manager as a lobbyist, and courted Republican lawmakers in an ultimately unsuccessful charm offensive that nevertheless established her prominence in U.S. business and political circles.
“She’s an ideologue, but a practical one,” said Lee McClenny, a retired foreign service officer who was the top U.S. diplomat in Caracas during Rodríguez’s outreach period, adding “She knew that Venezuela needed to find a way to resuscitate a moribund oil economy and seemed willing to work with the Trump administration to do that.” Nearly a decade later, Trump has praised Rodríguez as a “gracious” American partner while threatening consequences if she doesn’t provide “total access” to Venezuela’s oil reserves, with neither leader mentioning the constitution’s requirement for elections within 30 days of a presidential vacancy.