Venezuelan Interim President Softens Tone, Invites US To ‘Work Together’ After Maduro’s Capture

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has struck a conciliatory tone towards the United States, expressing readiness to cooperate on the country’s future following the dramatic US military operation that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.

In a statement on Telegram late Sunday, Rodríguez said she was willing to pursue “a balanced and respectful relationship” with Washington.

“We consider it a priority to move towards a balanced and respectful relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela,” Rodríguez wrote.

“We extend an invitation to the U.S. government to work together on an agenda for cooperation that is aimed towards shared development.”

The remarks marked a sharp contrast to Rodríguez’s televised address just a day earlier, when she denounced the US operation that saw Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, detained by US special forces in what analysts have called the most high-risk American mission since the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

“It was an atrocity that violates international law,” Rodríguez declared in her address, insisting that “the only president of Venezuela [is] President Nicolás Maduro.”

Rodríguez, who served as vice president since 2018, was appointed interim leader on Saturday by Venezuela’s Supreme Court to ensure “administrative continuity” after Maduro’s abduction.

Her initial condemnation appeared to put her at odds with US President Donald Trump, who had claimed that Washington was in contact with Rodríguez and that she was open to cooperation.

After Rodríguez called his administration a group of “extremists,” Trump fired back, shifting from calling her “gracious” to issuing a stark warning.

“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump told The Atlantic in an interview early Sunday.

The US President also hinted at possible further action, saying he would not rule out “boots on the ground” in Venezuela and that Washington was now “in charge.”

Despite her new conciliatory tone, Rodríguez said she had launched a commission to secure Maduro and Flores’s release from US detention.

“The commission will work to ensure their immediate and safe return,” she announced, naming Foreign Minister Yván Gil and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, as co-chairs.

Maduro is due to appear before a federal court in New York on Monday, where he faces charges, including narcoterrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and possession of machineguns and destructive devices.

US officials have framed the operation as a law enforcement measure tied to the 2020 indictment, though Trump has admitted other motivations, citing Venezuelan immigration and the nationalisation of US oil interests decades ago.