Trump administration threatens Venezuela’s interim president with criminal charges, agency says

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque / Wendys Olivo/Palácio Miraflores/Disclosure via REUTERS The Trump administration is threatening the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, with a possible criminal case to pressure her to continue following orders from the United States, says the news agency Reuters. According to four people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, US federal prosecutors have assembled possible corruption and money laundering charges against Delcy and are using that information to force her to continue complying with Trump’s demands. Reuters says it did not have access to the written version of the charges against Rodríguez, but that it is the US Attorney’s Office in Miami that is preparing the draft indictment, and that the document has been drafted over the last two months. The investigation focuses on Rodríguez’s alleged involvement in money laundering from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, three of the sources said, and covers activities between 2021 and 2025, two of the sources said. Also according to the sources, in addition to the draft indictment, American authorities presented Rodríguez with a list of at least seven former party leaders, associates and their families that the American government wants her to arrest or keep in Venezuelan custody for possible extradition. The Department of Justice declined to comment on the matter, as did the Venezuelan Ministry of Communications. After a summary of the report was published on the Reuters World News morning podcast, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in X: “Completely FALSE. I don’t know how fake news like this gets into print.” ‘The relationship we have now is a 10’, said Trump Trump says he will visit Venezuela: ‘The relationship we have now is a 10’ The news about the use of the accusations against Delcy as a bargaining chip comes two months after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, who remains imprisoned in New York, by the USA. After Maduro’s overthrow, United States President Donald Trump announced that Rodríguez’s interim government would be under American supervision and even threatened, in an interview, that Rodríguez would pay a “very high price” if he did not cooperate with the United States. However, on February 13, Trump praised Venezuela’s interim president. He defined Rodríguez’s relationship with Washington as “excellent” and assured the American and Venezuelan governments are “working closely” on the oil issue. After revealing that he was planning to visit Venezuela – but with no date set yet – he was asked by Reuters if he would recognize Rodríguez as an official representative of the government, Trump replied: “Yes, we have already done that. We are dealing with them and, in fact, right now they are doing a great job. I would say that the relationship we have now with Venezuela is a 10.” A day earlier, in a post on the Truth Social network, he stated that his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and other government officials were “dealing very well” with the interim president, and that the “oil is starting to flow.” “Relations between Venezuela and the United States have been, to say the least, extraordinary! We are dealing very well with President Delcy Rodríguez and her representatives. Oil is beginning to flow and large amounts of money, not seen in many years, will soon be of great help to the people of Venezuela,” he wrote. Delcy Rodríguez, in an interview with NBC News, said that she was invited to the United States during the visit of the American Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, to Caracas and that she was considering accepting the invitation: “I was invited to the United States. We are considering going there as soon as we establish this cooperation and can move forward with everything.” Despite positive statements from both sides, recently, on January 25, Delcy Rodríguez stated that she was “fed up” with the orders coming from Washington. “No more orders from Washington on politicians in Venezuela. Let’s let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and internal conflicts. No more from foreign powers,” declared Rodríguez during a speech to oil sector workers in the state of Anzoátegui, in the east of the country. Lawyer, Delcy Rodríguez is 55 years old and has held positions in the Venezuelan government since 2003, still under Hugo Chávez. Known for her combative profile, she is a constant presence in moments of greatest institutional tension in the country. Venezuela’s interim president says he is ‘fed up’ with Washington’s orders

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