Secret deal or gun to head? Inside Venezuela’s leadership meltdown after Maduro’s capture
“They gave us 15 minutes to respond, or they would kill us,” Venezuela’s then vice-president Delcy Rodríguez told her colleagues seven days after a targeted US military operation captured the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, who had long been in Washington’s sights.This comes a day after reports of Delcy Rodríguez forming a secret “alliance” with Washington surfaced. The arrangement was aimed at keeping the transition of power under control. It claimed that Rodríguez had been in communication with the United States since November 2025, claiming to step in after Maduro was captured, signalling that Maduro’s removal was necessary.The new leaked recording of the meeting held between the Maduro allies after Maduro’s capture shed new light on the chaotic hours that followed. Delcy, speaking on the microphone for six minutes, claims that US troops informed her that Maduro and his wife had been assassinated and says that she and her brother were ready to “share the same fate.”“Hurt … to have to assume responsibilities in these circumstances,” she says as she recalls the alleged constant threats. “The threats began from the very first minute they kidnapped the president. They gave Diosdado (Cabello, the interior minister), Jorge (Rodríguez, the acting president’s brother and congressional president) and me 15 minutes to respond, or they would kill us.”“The US troops told us [Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores] had been assassinated, not kidnapped”, and she and Cabello “were ready to share the same fate,” she said, “And I tell you, we stand by that statement to this day, because the threats and the blackmail are constant, and we have to proceed with patience and strategic prudence, with very clear objectives, brothers and sisters.”She then urged them to “preserve peace, to rescue our hostages, and to preserve.”Before Delcy took the microphone, the communication minister Freddy Ñáñez made a remark defending her, calling for “gossip, rumours, intrigues and attempts at discrediting” her to be shut down as he claimed that Delcy was “the only guarantee we have that we can bring back the president and the first lady – but also turn the page and reconfigure our forces.”
Delcy’s ‘deal’ with Washington
US officials began secret communications with Venezuela’s vice-president Delcy Rodríguez in November 2025. It was around the same time that US President Donald Trump had urged President Nicolás Maduro to step down which the latter had declined.Now, The Guardian, citing the sources, reported that Rodríguez had signalled Washington that Maduro needed to go and assured that she could oversee a controlled transition to avoid chaos that could lead to the state falling.An involved individual told The Guardian, “Delcy was communicating ‘Maduro needs to go.’ She said, ‘I’ll work with whatever is the aftermath.'”The day Maduro was captured, rumours had it that Delcy had fled to Moscow. But the reports revealed that she was on Margarita Island waiting for the events to unfold.On 5 January, she returned to Caracas and was inaugurated as acting president, succeeding Maduro. Her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, the national assembly’s chief, likewise assumed a pivotal role, consistent with the transition framework said to have been negotiated months in advance.Following Maduro’s capture, Trump also signalled the backchannel deal. Speaking to the New York Post, he said, “We’ve spoken to her numerous times, and she understands, she understands.”
