Key Highlights
- 5, 2026, 12:51 PM ESTBy Daniel ArkinIn the wake of the extraordinary U. S.
- capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, the international spotlight has fallen on Delcy Rodríguez, the country’s interim leader and a key player in an explosive geopolitical drama. President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday that Rodríguez had been “sworn in” as president and stood “willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.” Rodríguez has sent mixed signals, however, insisting that Maduro remains Venezuela’s “only president,” while also pledging to “collaborate” with the Trump administration. Rodríguez’s de facto leadership of Venezuela caps a remarkable political ascent for an official who has served in a variety of roles under the governments of both the late socialist President Hugo Chávez and Maduro, who once called her a “tiger” for her vociferous defense of his left-wing authoritarian regime. Here’s what you need to know about Rodríguez, 56, as Maduro faces a federal indictment in the United States and the immediate fate of Venezuela hangs in the balance. Revolutionary rootsRodríguez was born in Caracas on May 18, 1969.
- She is the daughter of Marxist guerrilla fighter Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, a co-founder of the Socialist League, a militant revolutionary party that was particularly active in the 1970s. Jorge Antonio Rodríguez was arrested in connection with his alleged involvement in the 1976 kidnapping of American businessman William F.
- Niehous.
- The elder Rodríguez died in police custody at the age of 34.
