Trump Sows Confusion about Venezuela’s Future by Appealing to Both Delcy Rodríguez and María Corina Machado
The president of the United States did not deny that the Nobel Prize played a role in the transition as he praised the acting president.
Donald Trump is playing with Venezuela’s destiny with both hands. He is extending one hand to acting President Delcy Rodríguez, while reaching out the other to Maria Corina Machado for a potential alliance in Trump’s plan. By making both overtures during a single press conference, Trump has provoked another wave of uncertainty in Caracas. “An unbelievably nice woman also did a very incredible thing, as you know, a few days ago,” said the billionaire about the right-wing leader who presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. “[M]aybe we can get her involved in some way. I’d love to be able to do that; Maria, maybe we can do that,” he said. Vente Venezuela, her party, felt for the first time since Jan. 3 that affection had prevailed over the disdain shown since Nicolás Maduro’s “capture” — and on the same day Machado went to the White House.
But it wouldn’t have been Trump if he hadn’t sent a signal in the opposite direction at the same time. “I felt so strongly against Venezuela. Now I’m loving Venezuela.” And he’s “loving” Venezuela for working “so well” with the government of Rodríguez, who, this time, he avoided even mentioning. The political incompatibility between Machado and Maduro’s successor is total, which is why the U.S. president’s insinuation was so disconcerting. The tycoon also reminded everyone that Washington has not abandoned the policy that led to the government’s downfall.
In fact, this Tuesday another oil tanker was intercepted in the southern Caribbean, near the territorial waters of Venezuela, as if the military intervention had not yet taken place and there weren’t still an opaque agreement with Rodríguez concerning the way economic relations based on the extraction and refining of Venezuelan crude oil would work. The magnate said that oil companies are preparing to make “massive investments” in a Venezuela that has “more oil than even Saudi Arabia.”*
Initial Profits
While Trump publicly outlined his plans, in Caracas, the acting president declared that the state-owned oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., had obtained $300 million from the first oil sale of 2026. She did not reveal the destination of the exports, but she did say, contrary to the plan outlined by the U.S. president, that this money would be allocated to “measures that would cover the income of our workers” in times of high inflation and the “negative impact on the exchange market.”
Analysts attempted to decipher these words, which one could take as an attempt by the White House to assert autonomy, given that Trump has appointed himself administrator of Venezuela’s oil revenues. Jorge Rodríguez,president of the National Assembly and brother of the acting president, declared that, next Thursday, parliament will conduct the first discussion about reforming the Organic Law on Hydrocarbons. In a few days we will know if this initiative complies with the expectations of the United States. Last Thursday, while Trump was welcoming Machado, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt highlighted a bilateral agreement valued at $500 million, in which the U.S. will market up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil and manage the revenues before transferring them to the South American country.
Rhythms of Transition
Meanwhile, Machado is playing her own game. This Tuesday she visited Organization of American States Secretary-General Albert Ramdin. One of the objectives of the meeting was to denounce the situation of political prisoners in her country. Machado remarked that there is a difference between “releasing” opponents and “freeing” them. The distance between one word and the other highlights how fast matters are changing in post-Maduro Venezuela.
Machado described the meeting with Ramdin as “very productive” because, she said, it was marked by their joint focus on the need to “begin without delay” the path toward “democratic institutionalization” in the South American country. “I reaffirmed our commitment and determination to advance the transition in Venezuela with solid pillars of justice, solidarity, prosperity, and freedom for all.” Other sectors of the opposition believe it is premature to be speaking about a political process of this nature because of the political prisoners, among other reasons. “During these 15 days, economic reform has been spoken of, but there is no way for the economy to work if there are no solid institutions. The issue is how we can rediscover that social pact and build a genuine coexistence in Venezuela, each with our own point of view,” said Stalin González, deputy of the National Assembly of Venezuela.
Caracas is awash in contradictory and incomprehensible signals. The National Assembly has just approved an agreement by which the 32 Cubans who formed part of Maduro’s “security ring” and died during the incursion of North American Special Forces will officially be declared “Heroes and Martyrs of the Nation.” According to Pedro Infante, vice president of a National Assembly dominated by the ruling party, the “combatants” demonstrated “infinite moral superiority” in the face of the “invader.” At almost the same time, an image generated by artificial intelligence and posted by Trump of a map of America in which Venezuela, alongside Greenland and Canada, appeared as U.S. territories, was declared to be “fake” by Miraflores Palace.
*Editor’s note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be independently verified.
Donald Trump is playing with Venezuela’s destiny with both hands. He is extending one hand to acting President Delcy Rodríguez, while reaching out the other to Maria Corina Machado for a potential alliance in Trump’s plan. By making both overtures during a single press conference, Trump has provoked another wave of uncertainty in Caracas. “An unbelievably nice woman also did a very incredible thing, as you know, a few days ago,” said the billionaire about the right-wing leader who presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. “[M]aybe we can get her involved in some way. I’d love to be able to do that; Maria, maybe we can do that,” he said. Vente Venezuela, her party, felt for the first time since Jan. 3 that affection had prevailed over the disdain shown since Nicolás Maduro’s “capture” — and on the same day Machado went to the White House.
But it wouldn’t have been Trump if he hadn’t sent a signal in the opposite direction at the same time. “I felt so strongly against Venezuela. Now I’m loving Venezuela.” And he’s “loving” Venezuela for working “so well” with the government of Rodríguez, who, this time, he avoided even mentioning. The political incompatibility between Machado and Maduro’s successor is total, which is why the U.S. president’s insinuation was so disconcerting. The tycoon also reminded everyone that Washington has not abandoned the policy that led to the government’s downfall.
In fact, this Tuesday another oil tanker was intercepted in the southern Caribbean, near the territorial waters of Venezuela, as if the military intervention had not yet taken place and there weren’t still an opaque agreement with Rodríguez concerning the way economic relations based on the extraction and refining of Venezuelan crude oil would work. The magnate said that oil companies are preparing to make “massive investments” in a Venezuela that has “more oil than even Saudi Arabia.”*
Initial Profits
While Trump publicly outlined his plans, in Caracas, the acting president declared that the state-owned oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., had obtained $300 million from the first oil sale of 2026. She did not reveal the destination of the exports, but she did say, contrary to the plan outlined by the U.S. president, that this money would be allocated to “measures that would cover the income of our workers” in times of high inflation and the “negative impact on the exchange market.”
Analysts attempted to decipher these words, which one could take as an attempt by the White House to assert autonomy, given that Trump has appointed himself administrator of Venezuela’s oil revenues. Jorge Rodríguez,president of the National Assembly and brother of the acting president, declared that, next Thursday, parliament will conduct the first discussion about reforming the Organic Law on Hydrocarbons. In a few days we will know if this initiative complies with the expectations of the United States. Last Thursday, while Trump was welcoming Machado, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt highlighted a bilateral agreement valued at $500 million, in which the U.S. will market up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil and manage the revenues before transferring them to the South American country.
Rhythms of Transition
Meanwhile, Machado is playing her own game. This Tuesday she visited Organization of American States Secretary-General Albert Ramdin. One of the objectives of the meeting was to denounce the situation of political prisoners in her country. Machado remarked that there is a difference between “releasing” opponents and “freeing” them. The distance between one word and the other highlights how fast matters are changing in post-Maduro Venezuela.
Machado described the meeting with Ramdin as “very productive” because, she said, it was marked by their joint focus on the need to “begin without delay” the path toward “democratic institutionalization” in the South American country. “I reaffirmed our commitment and determination to advance the transition in Venezuela with solid pillars of justice, solidarity, prosperity, and freedom for all.” Other sectors of the opposition believe it is premature to be speaking about a political process of this nature because of the political prisoners, among other reasons. “During these 15 days, economic reform has been spoken of, but there is no way for the economy to work if there are no solid institutions. The issue is how we can rediscover that social pact and build a genuine coexistence in Venezuela, each with our own point of view,” said Stalin González, deputy of the National Assembly of Venezuela.
Caracas is awash in contradictory and incomprehensible signals. The National Assembly has just approved an agreement by which the 32 Cubans who formed part of Maduro’s “security ring” and died during the incursion of North American Special Forces will officially be declared “Heroes and Martyrs of the Nation.” According to Pedro Infante, vice president of a National Assembly dominated by the ruling party, the “combatants” demonstrated “infinite moral superiority” in the face of the “invader.” At almost the same time, an image generated by artificial intelligence and posted by Trump of a map of America in which Venezuela, alongside Greenland and Canada, appeared as U.S. territories, was declared to be “fake” by Miraflores Palace.
*Editor’s note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be independently verified.
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