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DELCY RODRÍGUEZ HAS A GUN POINTED AT HER HEAD – DOES SHE HAVE
OPTIONS?  
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Steve Ellner
September 11, 2026
CounterPunch
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_ Donald Trump’s success in wresting concessions from Venezuela’s
interim President Delcy Rodríguez is a clear demonstration of what
can be achieved through the barrel of a gun. So are the devastating
toll of a decade of severe U.S.-imposed sanctions _

Delcy Rodríguez taking the oath of office., Photograph Source:
Presidencia de Venezuela – Public Domain // CounterPunch

 

Donald Trump’s success in wresting concessions from Venezuela’s
interim President Delcy Rodríguez is a clear demonstration of what
can be achieved through the barrel of a gun. Just hours after the
military incursion that resulted in the kidnapping of Venezuelan
President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores on January 3,
Trump boasted, “We’re going to run the country,” and shortly
thereafter called himself Venezuela’s “acting president.” He has
also heaped praise on Rodríguez for serving both U.S. and Venezuelan
interests, explaining “She’s
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doing a great job because she’s working with us.”

It’s not hard to understand why Rodríguez – whose father was a
revolutionary martyr – has been so compliant. On January 3, just
hours after the kidnapping of Maduro and Flores, Trump publicly
threatened then vice-president Rodríguez and other Chavista leaders
with what amounted to decapitation, along with a far larger military
assault. According to Rodríguez
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Rubio by phone gave her and the second-in-command Diosdado Cabello 15
minutes to acquiesce to Washington’s new terms or face death. As she
put it, “the threats and the blackmail are constant.”

Some critics
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of the leftist government question the credibility of Rodríguez’s
claim. Her version, however, makes perfect sense. Trump himself
repeatedly made similar threats in public, though couched in more
oblique language. And decapitation is exactly what Washington
subsequently did to much of Iran’s leadership.

Washington’s toolkit of coercive measures against Rodríguez
includes the use of blackmail. Reuters reported in March that federal
prosecutors “put together
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possible corruption and money laundering charges, and have
communicated to Rodríguez that she is at risk of prosecution unless
she continues to comply with Trump’s demands.” The prosecutors’
money-laundering allegation in the Venezuelan oil industry is a code
word for circumventing U.S.-imposed sanctions.

Trump touts the benefits the United States derives from the
neocolonial relationship he has established with Venezuela. On August
28, he announced the reaching of “the biggest
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oil deal in world history” which gives the U.S. priority treatment
for the sale of 65 billion barrels of proven reserves in their
entirety, greater than those in the U.S. Other generous aspects of the
deal include 20 percent of the oil production to be purchased at cost
by the State Department and the Pentagon’s 35 percent ownership of
the operating company.

The threat of military force is only part of the explanation for
Rodríguez’s willingness to accept the deal. The devastating toll
that a decade of severe U.S.-imposed sanctions has taken on
Venezuela’s state-run basic industries such as oil, gas,
electricity, and telecommunications has to be brought into the
picture. The sanctions impaired the ability of the state oil company
PDVSA to maintain, repair, replace and operate equipment, as has been
recognized by the U.S. congress’ Congressional
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organizations.

In the latter years of his rule, Maduro acknowledged the deterioration
and turned increasingly to private capital. Among those who benefited
was Alejandro Betancourt who, unlike Venezuela’s traditional
bourgeoisie, had developed close ties with the Chavista government.
The new 65-billion-barrel deal under Rodríguez designates Betancourt
as the key operator and in doing so recognizes that he is better
positioned to attract vast sums of foreign capital than a highly
deteriorated PDVSA. The system of sanctions intimidated everyone
involved in Venezuela’s oil industry, forcing operations into
secrecy and creating fertile ground for corruption. Betancourt himself
was accused of illicit dealings. Despite these charges, Chavista
leaders prefer dealing with businesspeople like Betancourt, rather
than the traditional elite that spearheaded several attempts to topple
Chávez. Most of the blame for the corruption rests with Washington.

For all Trump’s warm words about Rodríguez, the sanctions that have
inflicted such damage on the Venezuelan economy remain in place. Trump
has only selectively loosened them by issuing individual
“licenses” in order to favor U.S. capital.

NAVIGATING OR SELLING OUT?

On several occasions, pressure and threats from Washington forced
Rodríguez to swallow her nationalistic pride as a longtime leftist.
One was Venezuela’s cooperation with the U.S. Southern Command in
carrying out the air strike in June that killed Niño Guerrero, the
top leader of the notorious gang Tren de Aragua. Compare that with
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum’s repeated refusal to accept
joint military operations on Mexican territory against drug cartels.

In addition, following Venezuela’s highly destructive dual
earthquakes on June 24, Rodríguez met with an Israeli delegation that
included military officers at the presidential palace and praised
Israel’s role in the relief efforts. Chavista demonstrators
protested the U.S. and Israeli military presence following the
earthquake with the slogan “This
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It’s Occupation.” President Chávez had broken relations with
Israel in 2009.

The problem, of course, isn’t just foreign policy. The Rodríguez
government has reformed Chávez’s flagship legislation the Organic
Hydrocarbon Law (LOH), which had set off the abortive coup against him
in April 2002. Rodríguez’s reform, which modified the LOH in
fundamental ways, set the stage for Trump’s “biggest oil deal in
history.”

In the early months of Rodríguez’s presidency, some on the left
credited her ability to navigate such a precarious situation. Former
Italian Red Brigades militant Geraldina Colotti
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called it “an act of political maturity in a context of
unprecedented blackmail.” Now, however, her deference to Washington
has divided the U.S. left, as it has in Venezuela.

Those who support the Rodríguez government run the risk of ultimately
being viewed as lending support for an imperial project. Defending
Trump’s “biggest oil deal in history” is particularly
uncomfortable because leaders on the other side of the political
spectrum are denouncing its lack of transparency. Amazingly, economist
Ricardo Hausmann, one of the main architects of Venezuela’s
neoliberal project of the 1990s, calls the deal “the most
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imperialistic thing the U.S. has ever done in its history.”

Particularly worrisome is the prospect that the Trump administration
abruptly changes course and opts for regime change, before
Rodríguez’s strategy for economic recovery gets off the ground.
Such a shift from transactional pragmatism – it’s all about the
oil – to rabid anti-communism is in line with the position
championed by Marco Rubio and other right-wing hawks. The break with
Rodríguez is predictable, though not the timing.

THINKING STRATEGICALLY

Progressive activists have to place Trump’s imposition of the
notorious Monroe Doctrine – now the Donroe Doctrine – at the
forefront of all solidarity work. The pro-Venezuela
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and pro-Cuba solidarity movements have shown that the most committed
activists are those who to varying degrees sympathize with those
governments not the ones who demonize them.

It’s easy to say that Rodríguez, her brother Jorge, Cabello and the
other top Chavista leaders should simply say no to Trump and walk away
rather than negotiate in such an unequal relationship. That’s what
some on the left advocate. But is abandoning power or inviting
military retaliation at this moment an option?

Juan Carlos Monedero, a former leader of Spain’s Podemos party and
advisor to Chávez, told me: “The Chavista leadership under Delcy
should consider abandoning power since the relationship with
Washington is just too asymmetrical. The Sandinistas did that in 1990
and then returned.”

Relinquishing power, however, would mean turning it over to the
extreme right led by María Corina Machado, who has many powerful
supporters in Washington. If you go back to the 48 hours during the
2002 coup when the right-wing opposition unleashed repression against
the Chavistas – with dozens killed – or if you examine Machado’s
vindictive rhetoric over the years you will know what is in store for
the Chavistas and the social movements if she reaches power:
repression Pinochet style. In addition, her slogan “popular
capitalism” – which she borrowed from Margaret Thatcher and
Pinochet – underscores the extreme neoliberal policies that she
embraces. The burden is on those on the left who demonize Rodríguez
to explain what realistic strategy they advocate.

Moreover, a Machado government would add to the growing number of
far-right, pro-Trump governments belonging to the “Shield of the
Americas,” an alliance committed to militarization under the banner
of combating drugs, but with the real aim of driving China from the
region. At the founding summit of the Shield in Doral, Florida in
March, Trump reportedly phoned Machado, put the call on speaker, and
told her “Everybody
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loves you here.”

Chávez, Maduro and Rodríguez have drawn inspiration from the example
of China. During one of her many official visits to China in 2025,
Vice-President Rodríguez praised the Chinese economic model as “an
example
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of dignity, resilience and economic growth.” A guiding principle of
China’s foreign policy, dating from Mao’s death in 1976, was Deng
Xiaoping’s dictum “hide your strength, bide your time.” The
phrase basically means that when the correlation of forces is
unfavorable, don’t antagonize or alarm your enemy. This is precisely
what Rodríguez is doing. Objective conditions in Venezuela – the
result of a veritable war
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waged from Washington – and subjective conditions – the resultant
erosion of enthusiasm even among the Chavistas – are highly
unfavorable. The strategy may invite criticism given the obvious
differences between Communist China and capitalist Venezuela, but it
is hardly far-fetched – and even less so counterrevolutionary.

Rodríguez’s pragmatic strategy is in line with the general mood of
the country – cutting across the political spectrum. Venezuelans as
a whole are exhausted from the devastating effects of Washington’s
war on Venezuela which played a central role
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in driving the average workers’ income down by roughly 80 percent
since the mid-2010s. The call by Machado’s followers grouped in the
Vente Venezuela party for mass protests against Rodríguez has not
materialized.

AGREE TO DISAGREE

One searches history in vain for a close parallel to what is unfolding
in Venezuela. Consider: an imperial power kidnaps a country’s
president, then reaches agreements and establishes friendly relations
with his vice-president who remains committed to the ideals of the
movement they both represent. For Rodríguez, the uniqueness presents
a formidable challenge.

The Left must also recognize that, more than is usually the case,
crucial pieces of the puzzle remain unclear. Most important, nothing
is known about the negotiations between the Rodríguez government and
the Trump administration. _Time_
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reports that “Rubio and Rodríguez are in nearly daily contact
through phone calls and WhatsApp messages,” but without revealing
the details. The key question is just how far Rodríguez can go in
defending Venezuelan interests without triggering a turnaround on the
part of the all-too-erratic Trump. At what point will Trump go from
his transactional, pragmatic mode to his anti-Communist mode and
promote regime change in Venezuela?

Critics of the Rodríguez government are right to warn that alliances
with sectors of the bourgeoisie, as represented by Alejandro
Betancourt, could open a Pandora’s box which ends up corrupting the
broader project of change. But drawing clear lines between friends and
foes from within may have to wait for better times, when real options
are on the table.

Meanwhile, the solidarity movement needs to remain united, even with
diametrically opposed viewpoints on the Rodríguez government. The
starting point has to be an acknowledgment of the uniqueness of the
moment and of how much remains unknown. Most important, the movement
needs to stay focused on combating the atrocities committed by
Washington: the liberation of Maduro and Flores, the lifting of all
sanctions and the return of billions of dollars of Venezuelan assets
seized abroad at the behest of Washington. There should be no doubt
that the blame for Venezuela’s dire situation both before and after
January 3 lies squarely with Washington.

_[STEVE ELLNER is a retired professor of the Universidad de Oriente in
Venezuela where he lived for over 40 years and is currently Associate
Managing Editor of Latin American Perspectives. He is the author and
editor of over a dozen books on Latin American politics and history.
In 2018 he spoke in over twenty cities in the U.S. and Canada as part
of a Venezuelan solidarity tour.]_

* Venezuela
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* Delcy Rodriguez
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* Nicolas Maduro
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* Donald Trump
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* Sanctions
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* imperialism
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* Oil
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* military intervention
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* Dumroe Doctrine
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* Latin America
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* US policy towards Latin America
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