Delcy Rodríguez has been appointed interim president by Venezuela’s Supreme CourtImage: EPA/EFE
Vice President Delcy Rodríguez takes interim leadership of Venezuela. This is what is known about the politician who once called Maduro a “tigress”.
Jan 4, 2026, 7:37 p.mJan 4, 2026, 7:37 p.m
Nilofar Breuer / t-online
After Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was arrested by US special forces, his deputy Delcy Rodríguez moved to the head of the government. The Supreme Court appointed her interim president on Saturday evening. This is what is known about the 56-year-old politician.
Born on May 18, 1969 in Caracas, Rodríguez is the daughter of the left-wing guerrilla fighter Jorge Antonio Rodríguez. He founded the revolutionary party Liga Socialista in the 1970s. Maduro had called Rodríguez, a designer fashion lover, a “tigress” for her unyielding defense of his socialist government.
The former vice president works closely with her brother Jorge Rodríguez, the President of the National Assembly. Research by the “Miami Herald” from October put the two under pressure: According to this, they had it USA has already secretly made plans to replace Maduro. You should Washington a group of Venezuelan leaders led by Delcy Rodríguez have offered a “more acceptable” alternative to Maduro’s regime. She herself had rejected this as false information.
In addition to the office of vice president or interim president, Rodríguez is also finance and oil minister. This makes her a key figure in Venezuelan economic policy and gives her great influence over the country’s weakened private sector. It is trying to combat hyperinflation with orthodox economic policy measures.
Rapid political rise
Rodríguez rose quickly politically: after graduating from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, the lawyer was communications and information minister from 2013 to 2014, and then foreign minister until 2017. During this time, she tried to force her way into a summit in Buenos Aires following Venezuela’s exclusion from the Mercosur trade bloc.
In 2017, she also headed the pro-government Constituent Assembly, which expanded Maduro’s powers – she was finally appointed vice president in June 2018. Announcing the appointment on Platform
Sources used:
“An attack the likes of which has not been seen since the Second World War”
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