Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez rejected a report claiming that she and her brother, another top official, twice offered the Trump administration ousting authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro and undergoing a transition.
She was making reference to a piece by the Miami Herald, which detailed that the offer, presented by Rodriguez and her brother Jorge, who leads the regime-friendly National Assembly, involved ousting Maduro but remaining in power as a "more acceptable" alternative.
Rodriguez said in a Telegram channel that the report was "FAKE." "Another outlet joining the pile of trash that is this psychological warfare against the Venezuelan people. They have no ethics nor morale and exclusively favor lies and garbage," she added.
The message goes on to claim that the "Bolivarian revolution has a tight military brass, which is united around the people's will." "Together and united around President maduro," she concluded.
The Herald article claimed that mediators presented two offers to the Trump administration through Qatar in April and September. In them, Delcy Rodriguez would be the continuity figure and retired general Miguel Rodriguez Torres, who is currently in exile, would lead a transitional government.
The argument was that neither of the Rodriguez siblings have been indicted on drug-trafficking charges in the U.S. However, former regime officials claimed that they are implicated in logistical support and money laundering operations. These accounts have been used by U.S. prosecutors in cases linked to the Cartel de los Soles, which the U.S. accuses Maduro of leading.
The proposals were presented to the White House and the State Department by U.S. Special Envoy Richard Grenell, who has been calling for engagement with the regime to de-escalate tensions.
However, the outlet claimed that the Trump administration dismissed the offers, concluding they sought to preserve the regime's criminal structure by laundering its image. "The 'Cartel Lite' was not a viable option," one source told the Herald. The Trump administration then rejected any negotiation involving regime officials sanctioned by the U.S. or tied to the regime in any other way.
The rejection is visible in Trump's recent actions. He recently authorized the CIA to conduct lethal covert operations in the country, with The New York Times detailing on Wednesday that the operations would extend elsewhere in the Caribbean, and the agency could take action against Maduro or other officers, either unilaterally or as part of a larger military operation.
Officials told the outlet that the ultimate goal of the escalation is removing Maduro from power.
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
