Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez has vowed to continue releasing prisoners detained under former president Nicolas Maduro during her first press conference since he was ousted by the United States.
Ms Rodriguez had served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, running Venezuela’s feared intelligence service and managing its crucial oil industry.
A 56-year-old lawyer and politician, she was sworn in as interim president two days after the Trump administration snatched Maduro from his fortified compound and claimed the US would be calling the shots in Venezuela.
Addressing journalists from a podium at the presidential palace, Ms Rodriguez said the process of releasing prisoners had begun under Maduro and “has not yet concluded”.
“That process remains open,” she said, adding that the releases sent a message that Venezuela was opening “to a new political moment”.
Despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term, President Donald Trump enlisted Ms Rodriguez to help secure US control over Venezuela’s oil sales.
To ensure the former Maduro loyalist does his bidding, he threatened her with a “situation probably worse than Maduro”, who faces federal charges of drug trafficking from a Brooklyn jail.