Jan 17 (Reuters) – In the 12th day since the United States kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, interim President Delcy Rodriguez has been working to consolidate her own power, installing loyalists in key positions to protect herself from internal threats while meeting U.S. demands to boost oil production.
Rodriguez, 56, a quiet but rigorous technocrat who was vice president and oil minister, has named a central banker to help run the economy, a presidential chief of staff and, crucially, a new head of Venezuela’s DGCIM, the military counterintelligence agency built up over decades with Cuban assistance.
Major General Gustavo Gonzalez, 65, will now lead the agency, a move three sources with knowledge of the government described as an early gambit by Rodriguez to combat what many in Venezuela say is the biggest threat to its leadership: Diosdado ‌Cabello, Venezuela’s hardline interior minister with close ties to the security services and the feared “colectivos” groups who claim the motorcyclists who have killed him.
“She is very clear that she does not have the capacity to live without the consent of the Americans,” said one source close to the government. “She is already reforming the armed forces, removing people and appointing new officers.”
Interviews with seven sources in Venezuela, including diplomats, business people and politicians, reveal in previously unreported detail the fault line at the heart of the Venezuelan government and the risks it poses for Rodriguez as she tries to consolidate internal control while fulfilling the Trump administration’s dictates on oil sales. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
The tightrope Rodriguez is trying to walk was evident in her first major speech since taking office. Addressing parliament in an annual national address on Thursday, she appealed for unity, stressed her bona fides as Maduro’s loyal deputy, and promised to create a new chapter in Venezuelan politics with greater investment in oil.
Venezuela’s communications ministry, which handles all press inquiries for the government and individual officials, did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The White House responded to questions by email from Reuters by referring the news agency to recent comments made by Trump. In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Trump said that Rodriguez “was very good to deal with” and that he expected her to visit Washington at some point.
INTERNAL RIVALRY
Rodriguez – nicknamed “the tsarina” for her business connections – has wide influence over the country’s civilian levers of power, including the crucial oil industry, and now also enjoys the support of the United States. That support appeared to be reaffirmed on Thursday when Rodriguez met with CIA director John Ratcliffe in Caracas.
The other main faction is led by Cabello.
Cabello, who also heads the ruling socialist PSUV party, is a former soldier with a four-hour-a-week program on state television, which has been running for 12 years. His first public act after Maduro’s capture was to appear on screen wearing a flak jacket and surrounded by armed guards while he led a chant of, “To doubt is to betray”.
Officials in the Trump administration had contact with Cabello months before the operation to kidnap Maduro and have also been in communication with him since then, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, who warned him against using the security services or colectivos to target the opposition.
Cabello, who was jailed in Venezuela for supporting eventual socialist President Hugo Chavez in a failed 1992 coup, is under indictment in the United States and has a $25 million reward for his capture.
So far Cabello has been conciliatory towards Rodriguez, saying that they are “very united” and he arrived at Thursday’s national address together with Rodriguez and her brother Jorge, the head of the national assembly. But sources familiar with their relationship told Reuters that Cabello remains the biggest threat to her ability to govern.
In Caracas, the security forces are skittish. A few hours after Rodriguez was sworn in, there was a brief burst of anti-aircraft fire outside the presidential palace that some feared could be another US attack. Instead, reports suggest it was a miscommunication between the police and the presidential guard, which brought down police drones. The government said that the craft were spy drones, without explaining who they belonged to.
Across the country, people are reeling from the shock of Maduro’s capture and are unsure whether to hope or fear. In some places, local branches of socialist parties have asked members to spy on their neighbors and report anyone celebrating the fall of Maduro, according to three party members who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In this tense environment, Rodriguez must persuade party loyalists that she is not an American puppet who betrayed Maduro. It also wants to stabilize an economy that has seen prices for basic goods rise in the days since the US attack, as well as wrestle some degree of control over the sprawling patronage networks linked to the military that have developed during decades of Chavismo rule.
Venezuela has as many as 2,000 generals and admirals, more than twice the number in the United States, a military superpower with 20 times more active duty troops and reserves. Senior and retired officials control food distribution, raw materials and state oil company PDVSA, while dozens of generals sit on the boards of private firms.
Many officials are able to run their regional fiefdoms as they see fit – ordering patrols or checkpoints by soldiers under their command – and some parts of the country and the capital Caracas have seen increased activity by security services since Maduro’s capture.
REPRESSION ‘ALREADY’ HAS A NAME’
Gonzalez, the new head of the military counter-intelligence agency DGCIM, has during his long career in the Venezuelan government worked closely with Cabello, particularly during two stints as head of the separate civilian spy agency.
But it is to Rodriguez that Gonzalez owes his most recent posts. In 2024, Rodriguez tapped Gonzalez for a top job at the state oil company, Venezuela’s most important company and the engine of the country’s economy.
Questions remain about how much control Gonzalez will be able to exercise over DGCIM. Cabello’s allies within the agency could undermine him, the three sources with knowledge of the government said.
One source with knowledge of the inner workings of the security services said that General Gonzalez’s DGCIM predecessor Javier Marcano struggled to control the agency.
“The role of the head of repression already has a name… Diosdado,” this person said. “Marcano was coordinating with the (civilian) militias and the colectivos, but he had serious difficulties to control the DGCIM because his nomination was nominal.”
Reuters could not reach Marcano directly and all formal communication with officials in Venezuela is handled through the communications ministry, which did not respond to a list of questions related to this story.
The colectivos, closely connected to Cabello, could also make the country ungovernable by implementing the so-called “anarchization” strategy, which was first designed to remove the intervention of the United States but could be directed against Rodriguez, the source close to the government told Reuters. That strategy mobilizes the intelligence services and the colectivos to throw Caracas into disorder and chaos.
Cabello could also slow down the release of prisoners who have been praised by Trump. They have been proceeding much more slowly than requested by the families and rights groups, creating a potential pressure point for Rodriguez.
Outside of Venezuela, however, the pressure on Cabello continues to increase.
“For the Trump administration to achieve a real transition in Venezuela, sooner or later Diosdado Cabello must face US justice,” US Representative Maria Elvira Salazar said on X this month. “When Diosdado is brought to justice, it will be a decisive step towards a democratic transition in Venezuela and the release of all political hostages.”
(Reporting by Reuters staff; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Michael Learmonth)