Delcy Rodríguez named Venezuela’s interim leader after Maduro’s capture

Delcy Rodríguez, a long-serving Venezuelan official, has become the country’s interim leader with President Trump’s assent after U.S. forces captured and forcibly extracted Nicolás Maduro and his wife to stand trial in New York, The New York Times reports. Once a combative foreign minister who berated Western envoys in 2014, Ms.

Rodríguez evolved into a pragmatic, technocratic figure who led a stabilization of Venezuela’s economy, according to people who know her and reporting in The Times. She recruited economic advisers from Venezuela and abroad, brokered a truce with parts of the economic elite, and oversaw measures that halted hyperinflation and returned some economic growth.

By the time of Mr. Maduro’s capture she had held multiple posts, including vice president, minister of finance and minister of petroleum, and had sidelined rivals, people close to the government said. Now Ms. Rodríguez faces the task of placating an American president who, the paper says, has signalled the United States will run Venezuela for years while she tries to stabilize a cratering economy and consolidate control over governing institutions and power brokers.

She has put out a statement saying Venezuela is exploring restoring diplomatic ties and sending a delegation to Washington, and U.S. diplomats visited Caracas to assess a "potential" resumption of embassy operations. Mr.

Key Topics

World, Delcy Rodríguez, Caracas, Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump, Venezuelan Oil