Venezuela’s interim President, Delcy Rodríguez, has given a defiant warning to the United States, declaring she has had “enough of the orders from Washington” and insisting that Venezuelan politics will no longer be dictated by foreign powers.
Rodríguez spoke on Sunday while addressing oil workers in Anzoategui State, pushing back against mounting pressure from the Donald Trump administration and reaffirming her government’s resolve to handle internal matters without outside interference.
“Enough orders from Washington on politicians in Venezuela. Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and internal conflicts. Enough of foreign powers,” she said, according to AFP.
The interim president said Venezuela would confront its long-standing disputes with Washington directly, “face to face”, through what she described as Bolivarian diplomacy.
She also expressed shock over what she termed an unprecedented foreign military action against her country, referring to the US military’s arrest of Venezuela’s leader, Nicholas Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores. Both were charged in a US court over allegations of narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking, claims Maduro has repeatedly denied.
The US operation in Caracas on January 3 reportedly stunned the international community, drawing a mix of condemnation and support from global leaders.
Donald Trump later revealed that US forces deployed a security weapon known as the “Discombobulator” to disable Venezuelan equipment during the operation that led to Maduro’s capture.
Following the development, Rodríguez assumed the acting presidency, with Trump announcing shortly after that she had agreed to work in partnership with the United States.
Two weeks ago, Trump further declared that Venezuela would turn over between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil to the US, stating that the oil would be sold at market price and that proceeds, controlled by Washington, would be used for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.
He also styled himself as the acting president of Venezuela in a mock-up Wikipedia page shared on his Truth Social account, while announcing that US oil companies were ready to invest billions of dollars in rebuilding Venezuela’s infrastructure.
