PNN – Samuel Ben-Over wrote in the National Interest: Interim President Delcy Rodriguez seems to be the best option for the United States to stabilize Venezuela, but many of his policies are unappealing to Washington.
Despite her condemnation and similar statements following the US arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Rodriguez has so far agreed to many of Washington’s conditions.
According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Washington seeks to stabilize Venezuela, revive its oil sector, and transition Caracas to a true democracy.
However, Rodriguez is not entirely on board with Washington; in addition to democracy, which Rubio acknowledged “will take some time,” Rodriguez has yet to cooperate on another key US priority: expelling America’s enemies from Venezuelan soil.
As Venezuela’s foreign minister and later vice president under Nicolas Maduro, Rodriguez has played a unique role in socialist and Chavez-style Venezuela in promoting capitalism.
Maduro, an ideological figure himself, had a habit of leaving non-Chávezian policies to Rodriguez when economically necessary.
Rodriguez’s role was solidified after the intensification of US sanctions in 2019, when the Venezuelan regime was forced to choose between adhering to Chavism and the resulting economic crisis or pursuing pragmatic, non-Chavism economic programs.
Rodriguez passed the Anti-Sanctions Law in 2020, which essentially provides a framework for circumventing sanctions through non-disclosure agreements, creating flexible ownership structures, and private sector participation in state-owned sectors such as oil, effectively facilitating the privatization process.
Rodriguez’s meeting with Sergei Lavrov in Moscow in 2019 was accompanied by joint measures to protect assets, such as the transfer of the European operations of Venezuelan oil company PDVSA to Moscow.
The reviews by the foreign ministers of the two countries of the bilateral “cooperation plan”, which includes more than 335 agreements, in 2023 paved the way for the Russia-Venezuela Strategic Cooperation Agreement in 2025.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez’s meetings in Beijing in September 2023 with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng were held ahead of Maduro’s official visit, during which Beijing and Caracas upgraded relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership.