Caracas – Delcy Rodríguez, the acting president of Venezuela, faces a significant challenge to her authority following the forceful removal of Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, with a recent Financial Times poll indicating she would receive only 25% of the vote in a hypothetical election, compared to 67% for opposition leader María Corina Machado.
The poll results underscore the fragility of the current political arrangement, established after a U.S. Operation on January 3rd led to Maduro’s capture. Even as the U.S. Has maintained that the intervention was a “change of leadership” rather than a full regime change – leaving the existing government, military, and security forces largely intact – the public’s preference for Machado demonstrates limited support for the modern administration. According to Tom Shannon, a former high-ranking State Department official with extensive experience in Venezuela, the situation appears to be the creation of a “docile regime.”
The U.S. Approach, under President Donald Trump, has been to exert control over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves from Washington, a strategy described by Javier Corrales of Amherst College as akin to a hostile takeover. This strategy has so far avoided large-scale troop deployments, though the Swissinfo.ch reported that Rodríguez recently met with the director of the CIA in Caracas, suggesting ongoing, direct U.S. Involvement in the country’s governance. The meeting’s specifics remain undisclosed.
Machado’s strong showing in the Financial Times poll comes despite her not being a candidate in the current political landscape. The poll highlights the deep dissatisfaction with the existing political structure, even under new leadership. Machado recently presented Donald Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize, a symbolic gesture underscoring the opposition’s alignment with the U.S. Administration.
The situation is further complicated by the continued presence of the Chavista apparatus, maintained under strict U.S. Oversight. The U.S. Is attempting to manage Venezuela’s economic recovery, particularly its devastated oil industry, but faces the challenge of doing so without repeating the perceived failures of past interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Delcy Rodríguez announced plans for a democratic process and peace, respecting diversity, according to a Facebook post, but the Financial Times poll casts doubt on the viability of such a process given the overwhelming preference for Machado. The extent to which the U.S. Will allow a genuinely competitive election, or whether it will continue to manage Venezuela through Rodríguez, remains unclear.
The U.S. Has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations within Venezuela, raising concerns about potential instability and further erosion of public trust. The long-term sustainability of the current “docile regime” hinges on its ability to address the country’s economic woes and gain the support of a population overwhelmingly favoring a different path.
