Who is Running Venezuela?

**Brian Lehrer** (0:10)
It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. I want to come back to something President Trump said at a news conference last month that I think hasn't gotten enough attention with all the other headline things going on. Trump said Venezuela, even after Trump's invasion deposed the strongman Nicolas Maduro, who by all accounts lost his last election but stayed in office anyway, despite deposing and arresting Maduro, some say abducting, Trump said Venezuela is, quote, not really ready for elections. Here's the clip. It's a minute and 20 seconds.
You'll hear him start and end answering the reporter's question about when there would be elections, but he changes the subject to mostly talk about oil.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:54)
As far as the elections in Venezuela, they're not really ready for them yet, but boy, a lot of progress has been made. Delcey has been doing a fantastic job, as you know.
The amount of oil coming out of Venezuela right now, even before the big companies, you know, Exxon, all the big companies are looking at it. They're going there. It's very fertile territory. But the amount of money being made by Venezuela now is more than they've ever made before, and we're taking a lot also for our, you know, for our efforts.
And the money is being sent and the oil is being sent to Houston and Louisiana to be refined. And we've paid for the war many times over. It's been an amazing fact. And as you say, you know, I'm very popular in Venezuela because we're bringing tremendous economics back to the country. They were absolutely dying. They were in such trouble. And now Venezuela is becoming extremely successful. They're taking in millions of dollars, selling millions and millions of barrels of oil. And we're getting some and they're getting some and everybody's making a lot. And it was dead before we got there. So it's been it's been an incredible relationship. They're not ready yet for the elections. But at some point they will be and we're going to be standing right right on top of it.

**Brian Lehrer** (2:19)
Not ready yet for elections, but at some point they will be. And then that last little thing, he said at the end there also caught my attention. And we're going to be standing right right on top of it, meaning the electoral process in Venezuela once it does take place. You'll remember Trump installed Maduro's vice president, Delcey Rodriguez, as Maduro's replacement for now. There's one pretty major elephant in the room though, or rather in DC, that's Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader, María Corina Machado, who claims to be the rightful president of the country after that disputed 2024 race. She won the Nobel Peace Prize for her opposition. And some of you will remember she even dedicated her Peace Prize to Trump himself.
And yet, when Trump announced the operation that took Maduro out, he didn't mention María Corina Machado by name at all, certainly didn't let her take what most people consider her rightful place as president after that election. He didn't mention democracy at all, but he did talk originally about getting Venezuela's oil flowing largely for the benefit of the US.
And as you heard in the clip, that is still his focus. With us now, Stephania Taladrid, a contributing writer at The New Yorker, where she covers Latin America and Latino communities in the United States. Her most recent piece is Maria Corina Machado's Opposition in Exile. Welcome to WNYC. Stephanie, thank you so much for joining us.

**Stephania Taladrid** (3:53)
Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.

**Brian Lehrer** (3:56)
Did Trump's answer to when there would be elections surprise you?

**Stephania Taladrid** (4:01)
No, it didn't. And I think it's worth going back to the first press conference, actually, after Maduro's capture of Brian. You might remember that in that conference, he basically said that the US was going to be running the country. And by the look on the faces of some of the people who were standing by his side, Pete Hexeth, Stephen Miller, and Marco Rubio, you could almost tell that they didn't quite know what that was going to look like, right?
And so they decided to work with Delcey Rodriguez, as we know, who was Maduro's vice president.
And it's worth noting that the administration had a call with Delcey Rodriguez that morning, in which they presented an ultimatum. It was essentially, cooperate with us, or we'll go after you, like we did with Maduro. And that is essentially what Delcey has been doing since. She decided to cooperate, and which was really a fascinating turn of events for a woman who, for decades, had portrayed herself as a fierce anti-imperialist. So much so that, and this is something that we mentioned in María Corina's piece, she earned the nickname of La Tigresa, which means the tigress, right?