The president in charge of Venezuela, , continues to avoid confrontation with the United States, despite the fact that stolen to his boss, With this, the idea that she is the one chosen to pilot the transition from Chavismo in the country, already drawn from the White House and herself, is increasingly strengthened.
This morning, the until now vice president and Minister of Hydrocarbons of the Caribbean country defended this Wednesday that her country must maintain relations with “all the countries of this hemisphere”, an evasive response with which she comes out against the latest revelation made by the North American president, of an agreement by which Venezuela will deliver between 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States. He announced it just five days after taking Maduro and his wife, the lawyer, from Caracas. The state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) confirmed yesterday that yes, it is negotiating the sale of “volumes” of crude oil to the United States.
“Venezuela’s economic relations are diversified in different markets in the world, as our geopolitical relations are diversified. And that is how it should be, it is the right thing to do. Venezuela must have relations with all the countries of this hemisphere, as it must have with Asia, with Africa, with the Middle East, with Europe,” Rodríguez declared during the inaugural session of the National Assembly for the period 2026-2031.
The leader has maintained, however, that “those who have excluded themselves” from these relations with Caracas are those who “have lent themselves to attack our country.” “Venezuela is not at war. Venezuela is a country of peace that was attacked by a nuclear power,” he said, referring to the United States military operation last Saturday. He has not gone beyond stating the obvious.
Rodríguez has defended trade relations with Washington but has acknowledged that the attack on Caracas and subsequent capture of Maduro has left “a stain on our relations that has never occurred in our history,” but insists that “there is a lot of Manicheanism right now about Venezuela and the United States relations.”
“There is a stain on our relationships that has never occurred in our history”
At the same time, he has considered that “it is neither extraordinary nor irregular” that both countries maintain agreements on economic matters, alleging that “71% of Venezuelan exports are concentrated in eight countries, and of that 71%, 27% are destined for the United States.” In other words, the businesses were still in place during Maduro’s time and she is not forced to break them, despite the weekend’s action, denounced as a .
“Venezuela is open to energy relations where all parties benefit, where economic cooperation is very well determined in commercial contracts, that is our position,” he further expressed. A phrase that carries a double message: for the agreement with the United States and for the information provided by the US Administration that it has been informed that Venezuela must end relations with it as part of a series of demands before extracting and marketing its oil.
At the same event, the president introduced the new Vice President of Economy, Calixto Ortega, and reiterated the support of the Venezuelan Government to promote the presence of Venezuelan companies in international markets: “The private productive sectors of Venezuela know that they have the public policies of this Government to continue promoting the diversification of markets and guarantee that national production crosses our border.”
Curves are coming
The new president Rodríguez also warned in her appearance that her country is going through “very delicate” moments and therefore called on “all political factors” to “heal what have been the consequences of extremism and fascism in Venezuela.”
“We must heal those wounds that our society has and the wound that the attack of January 3 left very deep in our people, which was promoted, requested, supported and supported by extremism,” he indicated in his statements, broadcast by the state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).
In his words, a message resonates for his people, the ruling party, distraught by this servitude to Washington after the pain of Maduro’s arrest, and for the opposition, which has been for now, despite the fact that a good part of the West understands that he legitimately won the 2024 elections.
For this reason, Rodríguez asked the deputies “to work in national unity so that Venezuela, in this complex moment of dangerous hours, advances towards a future of development, peace and tranquility in sovereignty to guarantee the future.”
María Corina Machado, in her momentary reappearance in Venezuela one day before Maduro’s self-proclamation in 2025.
“Absolutely temporary”
Just the Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, assured this morning that the Government of the acting president is “absolutely temporary” and insisted that her country is in a process towards “transition”, after the fall of .
In an interview with the Venezuelan media stated that the Rodríguez Administration will not last and the time will come to “dismantle a repressive and criminal structure.” “And the objective is for it to be as short a process, absolutely as short and fast as possible,” he added. “This process is irreversible. Venezuela is going to be free,” he defends.
The former deputy, who left Venezuela last December to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo after almost a year in hiding, stressed that the country is in a “phase before the transition advances.” During this stage, he considered, a “series of events” must happen, including the release of political prisoners, which the NGO Foro Penal numbers at 863 and who have not even been mentioned by Trump, his team or Rodríguez’s team in all these days.
On Monday, Trump, in the next 30 days until the South American country “regains its health.”
death toll
Furthermore, the night leaves another novelty: the Minister of the Interior and number two of Chavismo, Diosdado Cabello, has confirmed that the attack carried out by the US on Venezuelan soil has left “so far” one hundred dead and “another similar number – he said – of wounded.” “The attack against our country is terrible, that is true, that is a truth, no one is going to cover it up,” said the official during his regular program, “With the hammer giving,” broadcast on VTV.
Already on Sunday, the Government of Cuba reported that 32 of its soldiers stationed in Venezuela died in “combative actions” during the operation.
In that “terrible thing”, as he called it, “people who had nothing to do with a conflict” died, among whom he mentioned “civilians, women who were at home” and who, he stated, “were hit by the impact of the very powerful bombs launched” against Venezuela.
This Tuesday, EFE reports, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) paid tribute at a funeral to 24 soldiers who died in the United States attacks against different parts of Caracas and three states near this capital. Hours earlier, the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, had announced that three Public Ministry officials had been appointed to investigate what he estimated to be “dozens” of deaths, both civilians and military personnel, a number that, according to the official, are still being counted.
