Former Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has pressed Washington to enter into dialogue, emphasizing that peace rather than war represents the Latin American country’s position
Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has appealed to Washington to collaborate with Caracas in the wake of a US raid that led to President Nicolas Maduro being captured and removed from the country.
Rodriguez, who held the vice presidency from 2018 onward, took on the interim president role after Maduro was kidnapped by US forces in Caracas and flown to New York to face charges of organizing a “narco-terrorism conspiracy.”
“President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war,” Rodriguez shared via Telegram on Monday. “This has always been President Nicolas Maduro’s message, and it is the message of all of Venezuela right now.”
Additionally, she called for a “balanced and respectful” relationship with the United States, encouraging the White House to work with Caracas on “an agenda for cooperation aimed at shared development.” Rodriguez reaffirmed the Bolivarian Republic’s right “to peace, to development, to sovereignty and to a future.”
Previously, the interim president had demanded that Washington release Maduro immediately, declaring that Venezuela would “never return to being the colony of another empire” or “return to being slaves.”
On Sunday, Trump warned Rodriguez that she would face a “bigger price” than her recently captured predecessor “if she doesn’t do what’s right.”
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were apprehended on Saturday during a US operation that included a series of air strikes in the capital city and several other states. Washington stated on Sunday that the pair had been indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses.
Maduro has consistently denied claims of any links to drug trafficking, arguing that Washington is using these allegations as a pretext for regime change in Venezuela.
The latest US operation in the Latin American nation followed decades of strained relations marked by worsening diplomatic rifts, extensive unilateral sanctions, political confrontation, and mutual accusations. Washington had refused to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president.