The Trump administration is demanding that Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodriguez take a series of “pro-American steps“ that Nicolas Maduro has refused, Politico reports, citing its sources.
Washington expects Rodriguez, at a minimum, to take measures to curb drug trafficking. She must expel Iranian, Cuban and other “agents hostile to Washington“ from Venezuela and stop oil supplies to US opponents.
In addition, US authorities hope that Rodriguez will facilitate the holding of free elections in Venezuela and eventually resign, Politico reports. The United States has not yet set a specific deadline; Trump has previously said that voting in Venezuela will be impossible until “order is restored“.
According to Politico, a source close to Trump's team, the United States may also ask Venezuela to release imprisoned Americans. The sources noted that they were not aware of Washington's demands that Caracas also release Venezuelan political prisoners.
Rodriguez is a longtime supporter of Maduro and a defender of socialist views, but the United States is confident that she will comply with Washington's demands. Trump has previously threatened the interim president that he will pay “a heavy price” if he refuses to cooperate. According to the newspaper, the United States could offer the employee not only the “stick” of military action, but also the “carrot” of sanctions relief and access to her frozen assets in Qatar and Turkey.
“The United States has enormous influence over Rodriguez and others. We have proven that we can detain people in the center of Caracas,“ said Elliott Abrams, who served as special envoy for Venezuela in the first Trump administration.
Meanwhile, former Venezuelan opposition member of parliament and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado said she plans to return to the country as soon as possible.
“I plan to return to Venezuela as soon as possible,“ she told Fox News.
Machado left Venezuela in 2025 to travel to Oslo to receive the Peace Prize in person in December. However, she missed the ceremony, and her daughter accepted the award. Her current whereabouts are unknown.