In 2017, as Donald Trump prepared to enter the White House, Delcy Rodríguez recognized a political opportunity. At the time Venezuela’s foreign minister, she instructed Citgo, a U.S.-based subsidiary of the state oil company, to contribute five hundred thousand dollars to Trump’s inauguration. With Nicolás Maduro’s government struggling to provide even basic necessities at home, Rodríguez hoped this move could open a path to U.S. investment and economic relief.

Around the same period, Trump’s former campaign manager was hired to lobby on Citgo’s behalf. Rodríguez’s team actively sought favor with Republican lawmakers and pursued talks with Exxon executives, attempting to rebuild relations with Washington. However, the effort ultimately failed. Shortly after taking office, Trump — encouraged by Senator Marco Rubio — shifted U.S. policy toward confronting Maduro’s government over human rights abuses and democratic erosion.

Despite the failure of the outreach, Rodríguez benefited personally. Her visibility among U.S. political and business circles grew, strengthening her profile and laying the groundwork for her future ascent. According to Lee McClenny, the former U.S. diplomat in Caracas at the time, Rodríguez was driven by ideology but also by practicality, recognizing that Venezuela’s collapsing oil sector needed outside help and believing cooperation with the Trump administration might revive it.

Nearly ten years later, as Venezuela’s interim president, Rodríguez has revived that same message: Venezuela is open for business. Following Maduro’s dramatic capture, Trump publicly described her as a respectful partner while simultaneously warning that she could face similar consequences if she failed to restrain the ruling party or grant the United States full access to Venezuela’s oil reserves. Notably absent from both sides’ statements was any discussion of constitutionally required elections.

This portrait of Rodríguez’s rise is based on conversations with former U.S. and Venezuelan officials and business leaders who have known her for decades. Most spoke anonymously, describing her as intellectually sharp, occasionally charming, and relentlessly ruthless toward opposition. Rodríguez declined requests for comment.

Rodríguez entered the political movement founded by Hugo Chávez relatively late, aided by her older brother Jorge Rodríguez, who now leads the National Assembly and formally appointed her interim president. Their childhood was shaped by trauma. In the 1970s, amid Cold War tensions and heavy U.S. involvement in Venezuela, Rodríguez’s father — a socialist leader — was detained during an investigation into a kidnapping and died in custody. The event hardened both siblings’ political outlook and profoundly influenced their views of the United States.

Her early government career advanced slowly. While serving under Chávez, Rodríguez developed a reputation for arrogance and clashed with colleagues. In 2006, after an international trip went badly, Chávez publicly humiliated her and dismissed her from office. She would not return to prominence until 2013, after Chávez’s death, when Maduro brought her back into government.

Educated in Europe and fluent in English, Rodríguez’s international experience gave her leverage within the competing factions of Chavismo. Her polished demeanor also attracted the support of Venezuela’s new elite, including media magnate Raúl Gorrín, who assisted her secret diplomatic outreach to the Trump administration. Gorrín later faced money laundering charges in the United States.

Promoted to vice president in 2018, Rodríguez gained control over much of Venezuela’s oil sector. She recruited foreign economic advisers and sought to restructure the country’s massive debt despite U.S. sanctions. As her authority expanded, she neutralized rivals, including former oil minister Tareck El Aissami, who was imprisoned in a corruption crackdown she directed. Rodríguez became the government’s chief executive, viewed by some as a pragmatic reformer comparable to China’s Deng Xiaoping. Business leaders argue her experience makes her uniquely positioned to stabilize Venezuela’s economy and manage relations with Washington.

Yet the future of Venezuelan democracy remains uncertain. Trump has dismissed opposition leader María Corina Machado’s mandate despite international recognition of her electoral victory. Former U.S. envoy Elliott Abrams warned that true reform is unlikely while Chavismo remains intact and noted that no serious plans for elections appear to exist.