The Trump administration has quietly instructed federal prosecutors in Miami to avoid continuing criminal investigations against Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, a long-standing target of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials, in the latest sign of rapprochement between the White House and the oil-rich nation.
It was unclear whether prosecutors had implicated Rodriguez in any crime or whether investigators were preparing an indictment. A Justice Department spokesperson stated by email that “there was never an investigation against him that could be closed.”
However, DEA records obtained by the Associated Press earlier this year show that she has been consistently in the crosshairs of federal law enforcement since at least 2018, although she has never been criminally charged in the United States like other top Venezuelan officials.
The directive to suspend the investigation into Rodríguez was intended to avoid hindering the government’s efforts to stabilize Venezuela after the capture of his predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, among other reasons, according to the official. It was not clear whether the White House, which referred questions to the Justice Department, was involved in the decision.
“They have all been told to leave,” said one of the former officials.
The former officials, who had been briefed on what happened, as well as the current official, spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations.
Rodríguez, a U.S. lawyer representing her and Venezuela’s Ministry of Communications, did not respond to requests for comment.
What a rest
Removing the threat of possible impeachment, even temporarily, eases pressure on Rodríguez as the Trump administration seeks to work with the interim leader to stabilize Venezuela following Maduro’s ouster and open the country to American investment.
President Donald Trump praised Rodríguez, calling him “a great person,” shortly after the U.S. military transferred Maduro and his wife to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges. Both have pleaded not guilty.
In recent months, the United States lifted sanctions against Rodríguez and recognized her as Venezuela’s sole head of state, allowing her to reestablish ties with Western banks and collaborate more freely with American investors interested in exploiting the world’s largest oil reserves. As ties between the two governments have strengthened, some have presented the Venezuelan strategy — characterized by oil blockades, accusations against senior leaders and threats of military intervention — as a model for promoting regime change from within, while the United States pressures other historical adversaries such as Iran and Cuba.
Rodríguez and his brother, Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, were subject to US sanctions during Trump’s first term for their role in weakening Venezuelan democracy and consolidating Maduro’s authoritarian regime.
Rodriguez “is doing a great job,” Trump wrote on social media in early March. “The oil is starting to flow, and it is very pleasing to see the professionalism and dedication between both countries!”
In recent months, Rodriguez has hosted ceremonies with a steady stream of American oil businessmen, some of whom are participating in high-level delegations led by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Trump’s praise
Amid so much mutual praise, there is no talk of elections, despite the fact that Rodríguez last month exceeded the 90-day limit established by the Venezuelan Supreme Court to fill Maduro’s position on an interim basis.
“I don’t know,” she responded in English when an American journalist visiting her earlier this month shouted a question about the election deadline. “Some time.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has demanded that the administration explain its favorable treatment of Rodríguez, whom she calls a “central figure in Nicolás Maduro’s repressive regime.”
“Sanctions against Ms. Rodriguez have been lifted without any indication that she has taken concrete and meaningful steps to restore democratic order,” Sheehan, along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week.
Rick de la Torre, former CIA station chief in Caracas, said the decision to protect Rodríguez fits well with the Trump administration’s foreign policy goals in Venezuela.
“She is a lifelong Marxist and was a top leader of one of the most corrupt regimes in the world, but the United States is giving her respite and incentives to lay the foundations for democracy and American investment,” said de la Torre, executive director of Tower Strategy, which advises companies on Venezuela.
“However, its usefulness has an expiration date. At some point it will have to be held accountable in court,” he added.
The DEA process
The DEA had assembled a detailed intelligence file on Rodríguez dating back to at least 2018, and has received accusations about her ranging from drug trafficking to gold smuggling, the AP reported earlier this year. A confidential informant told the DEA in early 2021 that Rodriguez was using hotels in the Caribbean resort of Isla Margarita “as cover to launder money,” records show.
His name has appeared in nearly a dozen DEA investigations — several of which were still ongoing this year — involving regional offices from Paraguay and Ecuador to Phoenix and New York. She had even been linked to Maduro’s alleged front man, Alex Saab, whom U.S. authorities first arrested in 2020 on money laundering charges, records show.
Rodríguez deported Saab this month as part of a purge of influential businessmen accused of having enriched themselves through corrupt dealings with Maduro.
It is unclear in which Miami investigations Rodríguez’s name came up. Two of the former officials said Rodriguez was also mentioned in meetings with investigators in Tampa, who were tasked last year by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate financial crimes in Venezuela.
At that time, Rodríguez served as Maduro’s vice president. Justice Department regulations require the attorney general to personally approve the indictment of any foreign head of state, who typically enjoy immunity from prosecution under international and U.S. law.
Stop high-profile criminal investigations against foreign leaders.
The suspension of investigations against Rodríguez comes as the Trump administration has similarly slowed ongoing federal investigations against another prominent Latin American leftist, Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
The DEA had also designated Petro as a “priority target” for his alleged ties to drug traffickers, which had been investigated for months by federal prosecutors. The New York Times reported in March that U.S. officials recently assured the Colombian government that Petro faces no charges in those cases.
Duncan Levin, a former prosecutor who worked for the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, said it would be “deeply troubling” if law enforcement were ordered “to abandon a legitimate investigation for political or transactional reasons.”
“The White House cannot use criminal law enforcement as a diplomatic switch,” Levin told the AP. “Justice Department decisions should be based on law, evidence, policy and public safety, not whether a foreign official is useful to the administration at any given time.”
