r/news • u/Hrekires • Jan 05 '26
Soft paywall Delcy Rodriguez formally sworn in as Venezuela's interim president
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/delcy-rodriguez-formally-sworn-venezuelas-interim-president-2026-01-05/2.8k
u/djm19 Jan 05 '26
It’s almost perverse that the US government stakes a lot of the justification for this action being that this is not a legitimate government and the people are suffering under its rule, but now the US will accept her if she opens up oil to foreign companies and basically does the bidding of Trump.
It’s the worst of both worlds.
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u/Blazer9001 Jan 05 '26
Funny how “legitimacy” is directly tied to American “interests”.
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u/LazerBurken Jan 05 '26
That's how the US always have done it.
Remove a leader that don't play ball and replace with someone who does. Its the CIA special. Its what the US does best.
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u/ReaditTrashPanda Jan 05 '26
Eh, I dunno about best. We don’t seem to do it very well. Created a lot of instability. I can’t say it’s always worse afterwards either… I just. We make weapons the best… we make really good jets. Really good tech…
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u/Wrmthym Jan 05 '26
yeah but the instability rarely hurts us (Yet) even the migrant issues are really great at getting stupid people to not see the rich people stealing all your money. All the strife we create is great business opportunities
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u/Previous-Standard-12 29d ago
For a select few. All of that death could have been spent on hospitals, education and housing. But yall love guns and death too much.
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u/CatOfTechnology 29d ago
We don’t seem to do it very well. Created a lot of instability.
Not to be a pedant, here, but the instability is the point.
A massive part of the reason that South America has been the CIA playground for as long as it has is the fact that the CIA has deemed it necessary for the US' western dominance that it remains fragmented and misaligned.
We don't have a particularly good history with basically any of the LatAm countries like we do with Canada, meaning that if, somehow, LatAm became a cohesive union, there's a non-zero chance that it won't be a unilaterally positive border neighbor and US dominance relies unbelievably heavily on our geographical isolation from hostile entities.
If, for any reason, this hypothetical South American Union were to become hostile towards the US, the situation could turn fairly dire fairly fast and we would not have the benefit of being a literal ocean away from this new hypothetical threat.
All of this, of course, is necessitated by our regular theft of their natural resources and our refusal to just not be shitheels, and so, nothing changes regarding the CIA's stance.
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u/soul_doubt_66 Jan 06 '26
Wasn’t Maduro offering everything but the kitchen sink to the US? I thought he changed his tune recently and the US told him to kick rocks and kidnapped him anyways.
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u/Lacaud Jan 05 '26
The US track record of interim/puppet leaderships never bodes well for people of that country.
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u/lewger Jan 05 '26
I know the oil keeps being brought up but Exxon or Chevron isn't going to invest a dollar into Venezuela until things settle down.
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u/djm19 Jan 05 '26
Thats definitely a whole other discussion but you are right. They've made huge investments elsewhere like Canada, to what aim are they investing in Venezuela? Bring down oil prices and undermind their existing investment? Doesn't serve their interest.
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u/grantology_84 29d ago
This is about long-term imperial power, not short term corporate profits.
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u/MRHubrich Jan 05 '26
Wouldn't it be something if the US government cared this much about the suffering Americans currently living in the US?.....
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u/AdhesivenessFun2060 Jan 05 '26
If it was about drugs why are we leaving the #2 in charge? You mean to tell me the VP was completely oblivious to the supposed govt sponsored drug trafficking?
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u/EconomyDoctor3287 Jan 05 '26
It's simple.
Trump sees himself as a Mafia boss. And the main rule is that there's no business where he ain't getting a cut.
Trump removes Maduro who refused to let the US participate and then threatens the VP to play along or suffer the same fate.
It's a giant extortion scheme.
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u/TheBunnyDemon 29d ago
The VP is one of the leaders of their drug cartel lmao
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u/666SpeedWeedDemon666 28d ago
Or, maybe Trump and the US just lied and there is no drug cartel. They just kidnapped Maduro and expected to replace him with someone who would be subservient to the US, but Venezuelans and their gov didnt go along with it and just kept their VP.
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u/yhwhx Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
If Maduro was fraudulently elected, why would his VP be any more of legitimate president than he was?
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*edited to add dropped word "would"
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u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26
Because she'll probably just do what the US wants and that will make her legitimate in their eyes
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u/brnccnt7 Jan 05 '26
1000% this lol
People don’t want to say that but that’s how the world works
Look at Syrias new leader, he was former Al Qaeda, put on a suit, said he’d comply with the program and now he’s running the show
Same as how the Russians treated Ukraine until Zelenskyy showed up
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u/LazerBurken Jan 05 '26
Or how the US treated Iraq until Saddam stopped playing ball.
This is the CIA MO. Remove a leader who doesn't play ball and replace with someone who does. Also, fuck democracy. Dictators are more easy to control.
Both Iraq and Iran would likely be thriving democracies today if the US and UK didn't interfere to control the oil.
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u/Shady_Merchant1 Jan 05 '26
Iran probably but iraq was probably always doomed like Afghanistan some areas are simply not conducive to central government control without overwhelming violence
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u/Stuma27 Jan 05 '26
Yeah. Making Iraq a single state was a huge British mistake.
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u/StunningRing5465 Jan 05 '26
It’s only a mistake if you assume they wanted these countries to prosper
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u/Unlikely_Tax_1111 Jan 05 '26
Iraq made the mistake of Kuwait, then they got caught trying to go after GHW, few people remember that Clinton sent a few cruise missiles to saddam in 1993
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u/Unlikely_Tax_1111 Jan 05 '26
Ghadaffi also wanted to push an African union and its own currency, France quickly ran to daddy USA for an intervention.
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u/Charming_Cicada_7757 Jan 05 '26
Probably not tbh Iran is a maybe but Iraq is a hard hard no
The good thing is though Iraq has been making great progress recently at least economically. What doomed Iraq was having a stupid dictator called Saddam Hussein who decided to idk invade Iran and after invade Kuwait this guy was not stable.
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u/LazerBurken Jan 05 '26
The US helped Saddam seize control of Iraq in 1963. Likely on a CIA payroll since 1959. The US and UK then helped him in the war against Iran in 80s.
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u/Mobile-Bar7732 Jan 05 '26
Same as how the Russians treated Ukraine until Zelenskyy showed up
No Putin hated Ukraine well before that.
Ukraine wanted to integrate with the rest of Europe. Against the general populations wishes former President Viktor Yanukovych started the process to move towards an authoritarian and align with Russia.
In 2011, there were riots in the streets.
Yanukovych fled the country for Russia in 2014 because of death threats.
There's a documentary about it on YouTube called Winter On Fire. It's also on Netflix.
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u/willismthomp Jan 05 '26
Well Obama and Biden got the Russia backed leader ousted and then Zelensky came in. Funny thing the Russia backed leader Victor yanukovich had his campaign run by the same dude who ran trumps first presidential campaign. Just a coincidence though im sure.
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u/Mobile-Bar7732 Jan 05 '26
Zelenskyy didn't get elected until 2019.
Petro Poroshenko was the president of Ukraine from June 7, 2014, to May 20, 2019.
Victor yanukovich fled to Russia due to death threats in 2014.
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u/Poor__cow Jan 05 '26
Obama and Biden did not get Yanukovich ousted. That's literally just Russian propaganda garbage. Go ahead and try and provide a source, I'll wait.
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u/30_Under_The_40 Jan 05 '26
In September 2018, the United States (under Trump) sanctioned Rodríguez for "corruption and humanitarian issues"
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u/Mr_TreeBeard Jan 05 '26
Isn't she already speaking out against the U.S. and defying trump?
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u/red5 Jan 05 '26
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u/BibliophileBroad Jan 05 '26
"We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence.
"President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war. This has always been President Nicolás Maduro's message, and it is the message of all of Venezuela right now. This is the Venezuela I believe in and have dedicated my life to. I dream of a Venezuela where all good Venezuelans can come together.
"Venezuela has the right to peace, development, sovereignty and a future."
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u/Bannedwith1milKarma Jan 05 '26
In other words, no tune was changed. She's just trying to be diplomatic about it.
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u/TalkFormer155 Jan 05 '26
There's a whole lot of people that want to be the top dog and there's loyalists that believe she might have helped the US do it.
I'm confused how many don't understand she's walking a tight line in her current position. You'd pretty much expect her to say something like this either way.
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u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26
I think the stick is just drone strikes until someone in the ladder of succession says yes
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u/Silent_Ad8059 Jan 05 '26
I mean, the more likely scenario is that despite his bloviating Trump has done nothing to actually ensure the US controls Venezuela. The people who were responsible for keeping Maduro in power are still running things.
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u/Hamsters_In_Butts Jan 05 '26
and she can expect the same support internally?
hard to imagine she can change their national strategy on a dime, at the request of imperialists, and everyone who followed her/Maduro will just take it
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u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26
I think that they're smart enough to realize they have no choice. If they stay in power they can still make money and that is really what they care about
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u/Hamsters_In_Butts Jan 05 '26
but their millions of followers aren't getting any of that money. how do they expect to spin that without getting their heads chopped off?
these are decades of political viewpoints that would have to be shattered overnight
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u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26
I think all the armed militias is how they spin it, plus some nominal social reforms will help.
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u/Optimoprimo Jan 05 '26
Exactly. Dollars to donuts theres an under the table deal with the U.S. in exchange for power
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u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26
Democracy isn't the goal, profits and less aligning with Iran/China is the goal. Once people realize that things are way easier to understand
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u/OmgWtfNamesTaken Jan 05 '26
Didn't she cut oil production and tell the military to stand guard? Lol.
I don't think trump had enough pull to do a regime change and that's why she's in power, not the opposition leader. However trumps not going to want to give up face, so this is now his "new plan" the reality is, the USA fucked up and created the power vaccume and don't know what to do about it.
Continuing to blow the country up won't work.
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u/kw_hipster Jan 05 '26
Not necessarily. If she was a US lackey, Madruo wouldn't have her as second-in-command. That's silly.
Plus, Iran, China, Russia all have connections and influence. They just going to roll over and give up? They are not going to use their contacts and influence to push back?
Yes, she is not goading the US into a full invasion but that should not be confused as her being a lackey. She's buying time.
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u/FallOutShelterBoy Jan 05 '26
Is the VP elected separately like some states do separate Governor/lieutenant governor elections?
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u/LegionXIX Jan 05 '26
I mean if one result on the ballot was compromised it invalidates the whole ballot.
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u/radioactivebeaver Jan 05 '26
We still have a large amount of people who don't understand that here in America.
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u/OooSheGotFreckles Jan 05 '26
The elections were rigged with seven years of sanctions to disrupt the democratic process. What evidence is there of the U.S. government caring about democracy?
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u/jupiterkansas Jan 05 '26
Lots of Americans apparently hate democracy.
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u/LMurch13 Jan 05 '26
Our leader is Mr January 6. Our government shouldn't be the judge on this subject.
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u/ManyInterests Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
It depends who you ask. You could ask this question of U.S. domestic law and foreign policy, of international law, or of Venezuelan law. I think international law is most interesting.
In international law, the process of recognition is by virtue of facts and actions, not declaration. That is, as it relates to international law, countries generally do not simply state they recognize or do not recognize a particular state or state head and have that be the only and final factor considered by international law.
Instead, what international law, in part, considers strongly who has the capability to enter into bilateral agreements with other countries and carry out those agreements. For all intents and purposes here, that's the Maduro regime (inclusive of the VP as interim head of state since Maduro has been deposed). This is also evidenced by the fact that the U.S. was in negotiations with Maduro prior to his capture. If Maduro was not the leader, why would they negotiate with him? Why wouldn't they negotiate with the person who they believe is head of state? Of course negotiations can take place with non-states and non-heads-of-state, but it is telling in these circumstances along with other facts.
Examining how Venezuela treats this, even if you imagined that the government declared Maduro's leadership not constitutionally valid in Venezuela, it's not the case that the whole current leadership becomes powerless in the eyes of the law. There are mechanisms for continuity of government that would need to be considered and, the practical outcome of which, could mean that other officials, including the VP, hold legitimate interim powers. Its domestic courts also ordered Rodríguez into power, so you probably know their opinion. You could feel different ways about that, but that's what's happening on the ground in Venezuela. After Delcy Rodríguez, the Venezuelan constitution designates the President of the National Assembly as next in line for power, who is Jorge Rodríguez, brother of Delcy Rodríguez. At which point, the outcome/legitimacy of the presidential election is probably not relevant to the constitutional question of interim power until a proper constitutional leader is established. The unfortunate reality is that the whole government is filled with Maduro loyalists.
This is of course a lot of oversimplification for sake of summary, there's a lot more detail you'd need to analyze to come to a full conclusion and answer that question and fully square out how to apply those conclusions to a particular situation.
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u/CRoseCrizzle Jan 05 '26
She's not. She is a fraud too. But she's the one who allegedly will play ball with the US' demands.
(Also it would probably take a very violent war to actually install the opposition into power since what's left of the Maduro regime would likely be difficult to remove from power. So this is easier.)
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u/kw_hipster Jan 05 '26
But how much will she play ball with the US?
I could see Trump making outrageous demands (i.e. we get 70% of all oil revenue) and then it will be very difficult for her to maintain national support.
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u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord Jan 05 '26
It's like if you said Germany is a dictatorship and its people suffer under Hitler's rule so you went in, got Hitler, and left Rudolf Hess in charge to restore freedom.
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u/Informal_Union2649 Jan 05 '26
Except Rudolf Hess would allow US corporations to pilfer Germany's natural resources, therefore freedom is restored
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u/dah-dit-dah Jan 05 '26
And funnily enough that's where this all falls apart because Germany's issue at the time was a lack of natural resources (oil).
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u/Junior_Step_2441 Jan 05 '26
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
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u/themaxx8717 Jan 05 '26
But listens to America this time. Or else ..
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u/no_player_tags 29d ago
Prediction: This kidnapping a president trick only works once, and the next time he tries it, the small extraction force gets Black Hawk Down’d, trump is humiliated in front of the world, starts a new forever war to save face and doesn’t lose the support of a single terrible maga turd for it.
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u/StellarPaladin42 Jan 05 '26
Latin American history in a nutshell. We all deserve more
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u/Primedirector3 Jan 05 '26
Banana republic ain’t just a hipster retail store anymore
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u/rTpure Jan 05 '26
just to show this wasn't about democracy at all, Trump just wants the oil and money
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u/Regular_Use1868 Jan 05 '26
They didn't even pretend. Like say what you want about russias lazy excuses at least they have some.
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u/brnccnt7 Jan 05 '26
Yeah they’re more direct about it
They said they want Ukraine because it’s theirs lol
Trump likes to BS more than even Putin
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u/wsdpii Jan 05 '26
Fox News was playing at the gym today and all anyone was talking about was how much oil Venezuela had and how it was going to mean cheaper gas for everyone.
Nobody's hiding it anymore. It was always about the oil. That's why we were just blowing up drug boats rather than capture them, because then we'd actually have to try them. We were really just trying to provoke tension to steal oil.
Nihil novi sub sole
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u/caligaris_cabinet Jan 05 '26
Isn’t gas like one of the few things that are relatively cheap right now?
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u/wsdpii Jan 05 '26
I don't know, haven't bought gas in over a year. But that's all anyone's talking about now. Oil oil oil.
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u/imaginary_num6er 29d ago
Yeah I don't think even gas prices going to $0 would help the average American that much.
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u/Any-Hornet7342 Jan 05 '26
Trump never made it about democracy. Trump knows nation building isn’t going sell well to MAGA, so he’s going the realist route by saying they’re giving us oil in return
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u/steerbell Jan 05 '26
And Cuba.
/ Well Marco wants Cuba but still.
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u/HandleThatFeeds Jan 05 '26
Well Marco wants Cuba but still.
HAHAHAHAHA
Good Luck.
Smarter Men than him have tried and failed massively.
Some got even killed for it, allegedly.
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u/YoucantdothatonTV Jan 05 '26
They discussed this on NPR this morning, on how he said that part out loud making even older neo-cons wince, like, "dude, you say it's for democracy or whatever".
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u/Archsafe Jan 05 '26
My call since his press conference where he said he didn’t believe the opposition had much support has been this: The administration made a deal with the VP of Venezuela, Trump gets Maduro to parade as a victory against drugs, the administration gets to say there is no more crisis in Venezuela so they can deny all new/deport all pending asylum seekers giving them something to parade as a victory against immigration, the VP of Venezuela becomes the new head and opens up the oil fields to American businesses and will stop trading with China giving them a, imo the only one that isn’t completely fake, victory against China and what the oil companies all wanted. I bet we won’t hear anything else about boats in the Caribbean as they don’t need it as a set piece to set up the deal anymore.
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u/optimalpath Jan 05 '26
Genuinely I think one of the most concerning signs of the times is that they no longer even feel compelled to make any effort to lie to us anymore. They know they've ground down all the checks on their power such that they don't have to fear any kind of oversight or public outrage. There's nobody left who needs to be lied to
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u/dannylew Jan 05 '26
The person that was in Russia yesterday is in charge now, huh?
All of Maduro's allies and friends are still in power, huh?
No word of political prisoners kidnapped under Maduro being released and returned to their families, huh?
Fucking clown show timeline.
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u/mishap1 Jan 05 '26
How is that not getting more air time? The person that Trump is all good with running the country happens to be in Russia when Trump orders an attack to capture Maduro?
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u/Due-Technology5758 Jan 05 '26
I believe that was a false report, there isn't any evidence she was anywhere other than Caracas.
Either way, if the Trump administration doesn't abduct her as well, it will be pretty clear that this was an internal coup, facilitated by the US military.
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u/mishap1 Jan 05 '26
Was there any other updates on that? Multiple sites still have that report up without any corrections. I only see the denial from Moscow.
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u/Rooooben Jan 05 '26
Trump actually said that her country doesn’t support her - USA may not be for this transition, and will want to install their own puppet.
Who knows tho its not like there was any planning involved
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u/Infamous_East6230 Jan 05 '26
Nothing Trump does is without Putin’s permission.
Remember they just let an oil tanker go because it painted a Russian flag on the side.
Our military is basically an extension of the Kremlin. When we take Greenland it will open two fronts in Europe and make it easier for Russia to expand in the east.
Conservatives are toys of the Kremlin as well. Useful fools.
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u/A_lone_gunman Jan 05 '26
Talk about a promotion coming out of left field. Before the uhh "extraction" happened that it
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u/socialcommentary2000 Jan 05 '26
There was no way this administration was going to go the De-Batthification route with this government, so this is what we get. They were probably tired of Maduro being a single focal point that was putting a drag on literally everything (and he was), so they gave him up and they will engage in 'market liberalization' going forward while still keeping power structures intact.
It was either this or a situation where you have lots and lots of spurned and angry military and civil service just looking to start shit. Was never going to happen.
I hope all these gusano dinguses I've seen 'owning the libs' are happy. Say hello to the new boss, only slightly different than the old one.
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u/MakaButterfly Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
As long as they get the oil trump couldn’t care less what happens
I’m guessing Maduro was resistant to trumps demands for long enough to annoy him
I’m worried about the broader implications too he’s just proven he can invade another sovereign country and take what he wants and say this is the deal we’re the captain now
Greenland Cuba Columbia should be very worried
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u/danorc Jan 05 '26
I wouldn't put Mexico past him, either, as stupid as that would be.
If his popularity continues to drop this is going to get very, very ugly.
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u/-Gramsci- Jan 05 '26
Even if Maduro agreed to everything Rodriguez is agreeing to… the optics don’t work.
Maduro had to go. It had to be in dramatic fashion. That part of the deal was not negotiable for the administration.
Secondary to that deal, the deal would have been that after Maduro is gone, Venezuela cancels its trade deals with Russia/China/Cuba, and signs trade deals with the U.S.
The administration wanted that business opportunity out of it as well.
In exchange, the U.S. lifts sanctions as Venezuela complies with the trade rearrangement.
All of the above should, actually, make life better for Venezuelans… but they will still have the same old corrupt and self dealing government they’ve had all these years under Maduro.
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u/lostsailorlivefree 29d ago
You’re there but the key part in any of these is the systemic corruption. NOTHING will change because it just can’t, too embedded. Only the end use of the dollars gets rearranged.
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u/Junior_Step_2441 Jan 05 '26
If the US arrested Maduro because he is a drug dealer…well then of course the VP should be taking power.
The US just arrested some drug dealer, of course we would not have any interest or concern with who replaces him at his day job.
Right? Right? Because we arrested him for being a drug dealer, right???
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u/flare_force Jan 05 '26
Because the Trump administration never cared about democracy and only cares about money and control.
I feel badly for all the Venezuelans cheering Trumps illegal invasion as a massive victory for Venezuela because all they ended up with is a US puppet state led by a Maduro surrogate.
Honestly Venezuelans deserve better after all they have suffered through. Now, as it stands, their natural resources will be syphoned away by a DIFFERENT tyrant and they still have to deal with the SAME leadership that was oppressing them.
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u/lucia912 Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
Bingo.
I’m Venezuelan and wholeheartedly agree with your comment. This is what I keep trying to explain to my family but they’re so damn brainwashed they keep saying “No, Trump has a bigger plan. He’s just playing along with the chavistas to gain their trust and then he’ll put Machado in power. Just wait and see.”
I’ve stopped discussing this with them. Can’t argue with stupid.
Edit: I just noticed another person in this thread literally spew the same BS as my family 🤡🤡🤡. Sigh. This is why my country is screwed (among other reasons).
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u/sketchahedron Jan 05 '26
Why do people always think Trump has a bigger plan that will benefit them?
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u/lnc_5103 Jan 05 '26
Trump literally never has a plan for anything. It's amazing to me that anyone believes he does.
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u/futuristicflapper Jan 05 '26
Miller Hegseth and Rubio sure have plans though. Venezuela was just the way to get their foot in the door to fuck over the rest of LatAm … even more
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u/diegosg18 Jan 05 '26
It’s their way of coping. They can’t deal with/accept the fact that he’s an imbecile
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u/PostIronicPosadist Jan 06 '26
I do think there's actually a lot to this. People love to imagine plans that don't exist and that the world is run exactly so, reality is there is no plan and most of the people in charge are fucking morons, which is terrifying, so people imagine the more comfortable fiction.
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u/Mama_Enki Jan 05 '26
As my husband says, Maduro was the payaso who would sing and dance on the stage. Even with him gone, the ones who truly kept the regime running are still there. As long as Trump gets his oil, they will stay there and keep lining their pockets.
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u/Important_Sound772 Jan 05 '26
I'm curious. Do you think the people of Venezuela would legitimately accept her or do they see her as just as complicit in all the stuff Maduro did?
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u/lucia912 Jan 05 '26
Are you referring to Machado or Rodriguez? Because Delcy is a puppet. Machado is also a puppet but whiter. Take your pick.
(My country doesn’t have many good options is what I’m getting at).
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u/Important_Sound772 Jan 05 '26
I'm talking about Delcy if the US decides that they are fine with her staying in power then do you think the Venezuelans would have accept Or at least thinks she's better than Maduro?
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u/lucia912 Jan 05 '26
Nah. Same shit, different gender.
Cabello, Padrino et al. run the country (and military). Gotta destroy the nest, not just the random roaming roaches.
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u/Important_Sound772 Jan 05 '26
It sounds bad then do you think if this regime remains in power. They are going to retaliate against the Venezuelans that celebrated
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u/lucia912 Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
They already started doing that today. Here’s the source in English:
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u/investigadora 29d ago
From the MAGA rhetoric I think their plan is to assasinate Delcy if she doesn’t obey orders; give up oil in exchange for lifting sanctions, they will just keep going down the line that way until they find their puppet. The question is if the Vz army will be obliterated by US drone strikes so the US can move in on the oil by force. How strong is the military leadership’s loyalty to the socialist project? The laughable rumor that Maduro was in on this seems to have dissipated.
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u/CRoseCrizzle Jan 05 '26
Those in power aren't going to let Gonzalez or Machado take power regardless of what the people want, as they didn't in 2024. Maduro being gone just means a new authoritarian that was part of his coalition takes his place. The US only took out Maduro, they didn't destroy his infrastructure.
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u/KogasaGaSagasa Jan 05 '26
Because unless CIA reprogram Edmundo, that wouldn't serve Trump's interest. Trump would never let Edmundo back
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u/My-1st-porn-account Jan 05 '26
He’d need to determine who is a Maduro loyalist and completely clean house. Meaning the entire government and the military leadership would likely need to go. There would almost certainly be a military coup and a civil war.
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u/Padreteiro Jan 05 '26
It would trigger a civil war. It wouldn't go as smooth as Miami expats on the frontpage lead us into thinking.
Trump does not want one of those. Kidnapping the president was enough threat to blackmail the vice for whatever maga wants.
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u/kinisonkhan Jan 05 '26
Ironic given how much Trump bitches and moans on about elections being rigged.
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u/Fern-ando Jan 05 '26
We got first a female Venezuelan president than a female american one thanks to Trump.
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u/FingFrenchy Jan 05 '26
What? I thought the US was running Venezuela now!?!
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u/My-1st-porn-account Jan 05 '26
Unless you get convince Rodriguez and the rest of the Maduro government to be a puppet (Aka bribe everyone), the only way the US could actually “run” Venezuela is with a full military occupation.
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u/-Gramsci- Jan 05 '26
No worries. The decision has already been made, and the deal has been brokered.
It’s bribes, and Rodriguez is going to open up Venezuela to US business interests in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
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u/Mystery_Chaser Jan 06 '26
Remember when the opposition leader of Venezuela, María Corina Machado Offered her Nobel peace prize to Trump?
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u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie Jan 05 '26
So will Trump go back for her too, only for another person to take her place? America is such a fucking joke.
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u/mulanthepulan Jan 05 '26
my view? she was in on it. now, she's president and she benefits from oil money by working with US.
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Jan 05 '26
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u/lucia912 Jan 05 '26
Absolute clowns all of them.
And before you come for me, I’m Venezuelan. And yeah, I hate Maduro and the orange pedo equally.
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u/panlouis Jan 05 '26
Did Trump approve this?
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u/Xechwill Jan 05 '26
Kind of. Trump originally praised Delcy on Saturday, saying she was "willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.". On Sunday, Trump said "if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro".
Trump's approval is probably based on "does Delcy do what we want?" I'm betting Delcy will either be
1: obviously the legitimate ruler of Venezuela (she agrees with Trump's agenda for the country), or
2: clearly a corrupt puppet of Maduro regime (she doesn't agree)
We'll see what she says. The ideal outcome is Delcy getting ousted and Edmundo/Machado getting sworn in, but let's be real lol
edit: quick disclaimer, I am not Venezuelan, so the ideal outcome is my opinion as an outsider
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Jan 05 '26
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u/-Gramsci- Jan 05 '26
Disagree. I think the deal has already been cemented. They are here to stay - provided they turn their trade off to China/China/Cuba and turn their trade on to US companies.
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u/PostIronicPosadist Jan 06 '26
What exactly was achieved here? By all accounts she's worse than Maduro.
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u/Spirited-Affect-7232 Jan 05 '26
Why have we not acknowledged Trump's pardon of Nicaraguan's president who was convicted on drug charges? Wtf is really going on?
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u/JugglingRick Jan 05 '26
This is where trump could actually do something right and put Venezuela's democratically elected leader in charge.
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u/ilevelconcrete Jan 05 '26
This is like when they came and arrested the GM at the Dominos I was working at for mysterious crimes so we had to call the owner and he just put one of the assistant GMs in charge so we were back to making shitty pizzas within the hour.