Venezuela’s political future after the removal of dictator Nicolás Maduro on the 3rd remains shrouded in uncertainty.
On the one hand, US President Donald Trump stated that the South American country is not prepared to hold elections immediately and allowed the Chavista regime to remain in power temporarily.
On the other hand, the Chavistas who remain in power have shown signs that they will not accept American involvement in the way it was proposed.
Trump has tasked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of Homeland Security and Migration Kristi Noem with coordinating Venezuela’s transition and ensuring that the country’s interim dictator, Delcy Rodríguez, “cooperates.”
Who are the Chavismo figures who remain in power
Delcy Rodriguez
Second in the line of succession to deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro, Delcy Rodríguez is a confrontational figure with a history on the Venezuelan left who has become the most powerful representative of Chavismo.
With the approval of the Trump administration to maintain the regime in force, she is currently seen as a key figure in dialogue with Venezuela.
The 56-year-old interim dictator first served socialist dictator Hugo Chávez and then worked alongside Maduro in various roles to keep Chavismo in power illegitimately.
The Trump administration declared that the person chosen to lead the transition government is “cooperating” in accordance with the requirements imposed by the US.
Diosdado Hair
Venezuela’s Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, a hard-line figure in the regime. Credit: EFE/ Rayner Peña R (Photo: EFE/ Rayner Peña R)Considered the most hard-line of the regime’s remaining leaders, Diosdado Cabello has been the face of the military wing of Chavismo since its inception, responsible for executing the repressive orders of the deposed dictator Maduro against the opposition.
He leads the State security forces and pro-regime units strategically formed within society, the collectives, groups that spread terror in favor of the dictatorship.
Cabello was at the forefront of the violent actions that resulted in deaths and arrests during street protests after the 2024 elections. The Chavista is known internationally as the mastermind of the Venezuelan state’s repressive apparatus.
Following Maduro’s removal by the US, he called on military and police officers to “maintain order” in a speech on state television, in which he appeared wearing a bulletproof vest and surrounded by armed security forces.
Jorge Rodriguez
The uninterrupted president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez. Credit: EFE/ Miguel Gutiérrez (Photo: EFE/ Miguel Gutiérrez)Two days after Maduro’s capture, deputy Jorge Rodríguez, brother of interim dictator Delcy Rodríguez, was re-elected president of the National Assembly (AN, Parliament) of Venezuela.
A psychiatrist by training, the Chavista worked as a deputy in the Hugo Chávez regime and helped an economic elite to rise in the socialist system initially implemented by Maduro’s predecessor.
Jorge and Delcy’s father, Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, is a well-known Marxist guerrilla fighter and co-founder of the Socialist League, a left-wing militant movement very active in the 1960s and 1970s.
The deputy ally of the deposed dictator and who commands the Venezuelan Parliament gained notoriety when he led the National Electoral Council (CNE) between 2003 and 2006, a period in which he was accused of obstructing the recall referendum process against Chávez, initiated by the Democratic Coordination that was then bringing together dissidents, by rejecting the signatures collected in support of the request.
From the CNE, he rose to the position of deputy leader of the Chávez regime, a position he held from 2007. He was also one of the founders of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), a governing party, for which he coordinated more than ten electoral campaigns.
The Rodríguez brothers have been under sanctions from the US Treasury Department since 2018 for helping Maduro “maintain power and consolidate his authoritarian rule.”
Vladimir Padrino López
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López. Credit: EFE/ Miguel Gutiérrez (Photo: (EPA) EFE)Venezuela’s Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López, was an important ally of Maduro during the years of the regime as he managed to keep the Armed Forces under control since 2014.
The influence that Padrino maintains among the military allows Chavismo to maintain its ideological dominance in a sensitive area of the country, the military.
On Sunday, one day after the operation that resulted in Maduro’s capture, Padrino Lópeza declared that American military action had eliminated a large part of deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro’s security team, as well as innocent soldiers and civilians.
He classified the US operation as a “cold and deliberate murder” of security agents and reaffirmed his support for Maduro, calling for his immediate release.
