In recent developments, the U.S. government publicly acknowledged that it executed an extrajudicial operation in Venezuela, expressing gratitude to acting President Delcy Rodríguez for her backing. Secretary of War Hegseth further declared in a Sunday interview that U.S. forces were “invited” into Venezuela, hinting at more operations in the future. Who exactly falls victim to these actions? According to Venezuelanalysis:
The military operation coincided with a deployment by the Venezuelan armed forces to eliminate illegal mining operations in Bolívar state, which is rich in minerals and of interest to Western corporations due to a new pro-business mining law. Tren de Aragua has been identified as one among several criminal organizations active in the region.
By Rodrigo Acuña who has a PhD in Venezuelan foreign policy from Macquarie University. Alongside journalist Nicolas Ford, he released his first documentary Venezuela: The Cost of Challenging an Empire last year. With nearly two decades of experience writing on Latin American politics, Rodrigo publishes a newsletter on Latin America. Originally published at Truthout.
Venezuela is currently experiencing a form of U.S. occupation, albeit without the tangible presence of American troops. Following the January 3 incident, where the Trump administration targeted the nation and took President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores under dubious drug and weapons allegations, Venezuela has lost its sovereignty over oil, mineral resources, and foreign relations.
In Maduro’s absence, Delcy Rodríguez, former vice president, has taken her place as interim president. Together with her brother, Jorge Rodríguez—who leads Venezuela’s National Assembly—they have engaged in dialogues with U.S. and Spanish media, advocating a shift towards a market-friendly economy while permitting the entry of U.S. diplomats and delegations.
A recent Washington Post article highlighted that “the country has mostly avoided revolutionary upheaval while a Wild West marketplace buzzes with U.S. businesses and investors.” Focusing on Cuban-American attorney Mauricio Claver-Carone, the piece describes him as the “unofficial U.S. viceroy of Venezuela” who assists in implementing the administration’s agenda with Rodríguez and capitalizing on the country’s vast oil resources.
A Government of Occupation
Tony Boza, an economist and former National Assembly legislator for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), explained to Truthout that the Rodríguez administration should be characterized as “a government of occupation.” In his perspective, it hastily enacts various laws, often without proper consultation, to meet the demands placed upon it. He argues that this has gravely undermined Venezuela’s financial autonomy.
“The sale conditions for resources like oil and gold are handled with full opacity, leaving many uncertain about the terms,” Boza stated. “These decisions are now controlled by the group surrounding Donald Trump, often in breach of U.S. law, given that a formal declaration of war never occurred.”
On January 29, 2026, the National Assembly introduced the Organic Hydrocarbons Law, marking a significant alteration in Venezuela’s oil policy framework since the changes enacted by Hugo Chávez in 2006 and 2007. At that time, foreign oil companies in the Orinoco Belt were compelled to transition their initiatives into mixed enterprises, wherein Venezuela’s state oil company retained at least a 60 percent stake.
Boza stated that a key issue is that the royalties collected by the state from the energy sector for allowing oil extraction and sales are now contingent on a company’s profitability. This means that if a company doesn’t report profits, royalty payments could plummet to as low as 1 percent or even zero, since there is no guaranteed minimum. In the future, disputes related to the management of the oil sector will likely be transferred abroad due to the constitutional modifications made under Rodríguez, pushing much of the dispute resolution into U.S. courts—the same judiciary responsible for seizing Venezuela’s state-owned Citgo under the banner of U.S. sanctions just a few years ago.
Adelmo Becerra, a Venezuelan trade union activist from the National Institute for Training and Socialist Education (INCES), shares a similar viewpoint. He expressed to Truthout that the adjustments to Venezuela’s Organic Hydrocarbons Law represent a regression “by more than 100 years, reverting to the time of Juan Vicente Gómez, when the oil industry was foreign-dominated, yielding minimal benefits to the country while transnational corporations reaped significant profits.” Although he has criticized Maduro’s administration for its lack of transparency, Becerra points out, “There was state management of oil revenues. Now, the U.S. government oversees and allocates those resources according to its interests.”
Since 2018, many trade unions have become critical of the Maduro government for undermining collective bargaining to attract international investments and revive the economy amid U.S. sanctions. According to Becerra, Rodríguez has continued implementing policies that weaken organized labor.
In a recent interview with Germany’s weekly Der Spiegel, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, President Maduro’s only son, reflected that Chavismo needs to apologize for its “excesses” during Maduro’s tenure. Established by the late President Chávez, Chavismo merges leftist nationalism, anti-imperialism, economic state intervention, social welfare programs, and aims to foster a participatory democracy in Venezuela alongside regional unity. Maduro Guerra acknowledges that his father’s administration made significant errors, notably in “the actions of the police,” “the justice system, which hasn’t always ensured fair processes,” and “the right to defense.”
Recently, the Rodríguez administration enacted new legislation to grant amnesty to numerous individuals charged with political crimes. This legislation was a result of pressure from the Trump administration. Some Chavismo supporters have voiced opposition to this, including longtime media figure and hard-left PSUV member Mario Silva. He rejected the amnesty, arguing that those imprisoned committed crimes against the nation, citing violent anti-government protests during both Chávez’s and Maduro’s administrations, particularly in 2014 and 2017. The Committee of Victims of the Guarimba has sought justice for those responsible for severe violence resulting in numerous deaths and injuries during those protests.
Silva also penned an open letter to Minister of the Interior and PSUV member Diosdado Cabello, who has allowed Rodríguez to initiate reforms that open national resources to private enterprise. In the letter, Silva reiterated his critiques of both the party and Rodríguez’s governance, stating: “Collaborating with an aggressor who has yet to ensure any commitments for the improvement of the Venezuelan people cannot be justified.”
Elías Jaua, former vice president under Hugo Chávez, has recently raised concerns about a U.S. occupation in Venezuela. He accused the Trump administration of “controlling Venezuela’s oil sales and depositing the proceeds into a fund administered by the U.S. Treasury Department,” a claim reportedly confirmed by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. Jaua claimed, “only a fraction of the money will be returned to keep the Venezuelan state functioning,” which he argued amounts to coercive governance and a neo-colonial administration of one government by another.
Repeatedly, Venezuelan officials, including the current diplomatic envoy to the U.S., have declined interviews for this article.
Extradition of Alex Saab
On May 23, the Venezuelan government permitted U.S. military forces to conduct a “rapid response exercise involving Marines and military aircraft” at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas—an action previously inconceivable under Maduro or Chávez. Shortly before this, the Rodríguez administration extradited businessman and former Venezuelan minister Alex Saab to U.S. authorities. Saab, originally from Colombia, was associated with the Maduro regime, working with allies such as Iran to sidestep U.S. economic sanctions and import food and medicine for the Local Committees for Supply and Production (CLAP) initiative aimed at aiding impoverished communities.
Saab was apprehended in Cape Verde in 2020 and sent to the United States, where he faced money laundering charges. His wife Camila Fabri Saab alleged in 2022 that he was enduring torture and inhumane treatment in the U.S. The Maduro administration worked tirelessly for his release, which was finally achieved in December 2023. In exchange for Saab, Caracas freed 10 U.S. citizens, including two mercenaries from Silvercorp USA who had attempted to overthrow Maduro in 2019. In October 2024, Saab was appointed as Venezuela’s Minister of Popular Power for Industry and National Production, a position he held until January 16, 2026.
After the U.S. military attack on Venezuela in January of this year, Reuters reported that Washington pressured Rodríguez to arrest Saab and extradite him. Had she failed to comply, she risked a potential indictment, similar to Maduro’s, as suggested by sources at Reuters.
On May 18, Diosdado Cabello publicly asserted that Saab was under investigation for committing “various frauds” while carrying a “fraudulent” Venezuelan identity card since 2004. “There exists no documentation confirming his Venezuelan nationality,” Cabello added. The following day, President Rodríguez declared that Saab’s extradition was executed “in the interest of the nation.”
Silva, in turn, posed two critical questions on his program La Hojilla: If Saab had been using a fraudulent Venezuelan identity card since 2004, why was this irregularity not identified in 22 years? Secondly, how did Saab rise to the status of diplomat and later minister under Maduro’s government?
Neoliberalism and Censorship
Silva’s program, which was distinguished by its vehement critiques of the ultra-right in Venezuela and U.S. foreign policy, and which once held one of the largest late-night television audiences on the state broadcaster Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), was abruptly taken off the air in March this year. During that same month, another prominent political program, Zurda Konducta (Left Conduct), was also removed from VTV.
The removal of these programs appears to be an attempt to stifle criticism of Venezuela’s enforced reconciliation with Washington and the international institutions under U.S. influence.
Earlier this month, members of Rodríguez’s government met with officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Although Venezuela had been affiliated with the IMF and the World Bank since 1946, President Chávez withdrew from these organizations in the 2000s, deeming them “instruments of U.S. imperialism.” Chávez sought to establish alternative regional bodies like the Bank of the South, but Brazil’s lack of commitment thwarted this initiative. By 2017, plummeting oil prices, production declines, dwindling foreign reserves, and stringent U.S. economic sanctions led Venezuela to default on its international debts, amounting to an estimated US$170 billion today.
According to Reuters, the Rodríguez administration engaged U.S. firm Centerview Partners “without a formal competitive process” to manage Venezuela’s substantial external debt and reintegrate the country into global financial markets. The recommendation to hire Centerview was reportedly made by Claver-Carone, a former Trump official and a close ally of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Becerra commented to Truthout on the emerging relationship between Caracas and the IMF, stating, “There is no clear information” regarding the aims of this new connection. However, “based on global experience,” he continued, “it is evident that nations negotiating with the IMF often subordinate their economic policies to well-known neoliberal measures, which undermine the economic and social rights of the majority.”
In February 1989, after then-President Carlos Andrés Pérez’s corrupt government implemented IMF austerity measures, a wave of massive protests erupted in Venezuela, which the military brutally suppressed, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,000 to 3,000 civilians. By 1992, an ambitious lieutenant colonel named Hugo Chávez attempted a military coup against Pérez, fueled by dissatisfaction over IMF policies, Caracas’s allegiance to Washington, and the failure to reinvest oil revenues for the benefit of the working class.
If Delcy Rodríguez continues to yield to Trump’s directives, her administration may one day be confronted with its own version of Hugo Chávez.
