Delcy Rodríguez, the acting president of Venezuela, stated in a rare interview that her administration is not relinquishing the nation's sovereignty but is instead pursuing an economic opening intended to serve the interests of the Venezuelan people. The statement comes as the U.S. administration has previously explored diplomatic avenues, including offering Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro a pathway to leave the country.
According to U.S. State Department officials, an offer was extended to Maduro in December through intermediaries in Turkey, proposing safe harbor in Turkey or another mutually acceptable location in exchange for his permanent departure from Venezuela. The officials indicated that this offer would have allowed the U.S. to "leave him alone" and to "work with someone else inside the government to make those changes." Maduro reportedly ignored the offer, with one official noting that he "had multiple off-ramps where he could have left and lived happily ever after somewhere else." He instead posted videos of himself online during that period.
Rodríguez's own political trajectory is deeply rooted in Venezuela's leftist movement. She was born into a family with a strong left-wing ideology; her father, Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, a student leader of the Revolutionary Left Movement, was killed by government security forces in 1976 when she was seven years old. This event significantly shaped her life. Alongside her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, who currently heads the National Assembly, Delcy Rodríguez was raised with Venezuelan left-wing principles. Trained as a lawyer, she followed a path similar to her father's, ascending through the ranks of Hugo Chávez's government before becoming a close confidante of Nicolás Maduro.
During her tenure as Venezuela's Foreign Minister, Rodríguez emerged as a prominent international defender of the Maduro government. In this role, she frequently denounced U.S. sanctions and worked to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties with countries including Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba. In 2018, Maduro appointed her to the vice presidency, a position she held prior to becoming acting president.