Who is Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president that Trump says replaced Maduro?

By Leila Miller

Buenos Aires, Jan 3 (Reuters) – The following are some facts about Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who said on Saturday that Nicolas Maduro remained the country’s only president despite his capture by U.S. forces. Her comments contradicted earlier remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said Rodriguez had been “sworn in” as president and was “willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.” Trump said the U.S. would be running Venezuela in the immediate future.

State television showed Rodriguez speaking in Caracas despite previous reports that she was in Russia.

* Maduro has called Rodriguez a “tiger” for her dieharddefense of his socialist government. * She works closely with her brother, Jorge Rodriguez, whois the head of the national assembly legislature. * Caracas native Rodriguez, 56, was born on May 18, 1969 andis the daughter of left-wing guerrilla fighter Jorge AntonioRodriguez, who founded the revolutionary Liga Socialista partyin the 1970s. * Rodriguez’s roles as finance and oil minister, heldsimultaneously with her vice-presidential post, have made her akey figure in the management of Venezuela’s economy and gainedher major influence with the country’s withered private sector.She has applied orthodox economic policies in a bid to fightexaggerated inflation. * She called on the U.S. government to provide proof of lifefor Maduro and his wife in an audio message played on statetelevision on Saturday, but her exact whereabouts are unknown. * She is an attorney who graduated from Universidad Centralde Venezuela and rose rapidly through the political ranks in thelast decade, serving as Communication and Information Ministerbetween 2013 and 2014. * Rodriguez, known as a lover of designer fashions, wasforeign minister from 2014 to 2017, during which time sheattempted to crash a Mercosur trade bloc meeting in BuenosAires, following Venezuela’s suspension from the group. * She began serving as the head of a pro-governmentConstituent Assembly, which expanded Maduro’s powers, in 2017. * Rodriguez was named vice president in June 2018, withMaduro announcing the appointment on X by describing her as “ayoung woman, brave, seasoned, daughter of a martyr,revolutionary and tested in a thousand battles.” * In August 2024, Maduro added the oil ministry toRodriguez’s portfolio, where she has been tasked with managingescalating U.S. sanctions on the country’s most importantindustry.

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(Reporting by Leila Miller; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Diane Craft, Rod Nickel)