By Luis Manuel Aguana
The US recognition of Delcy Rodríguez's interim government was merely the final formality in Venezuela's new political phase following the removal of Nicolás Maduro Moros and his wife, but a very dangerous one for Venezuelans: “'I am pleased to say that this week, we have formally recognized the Venezuelan government. In fact, we have legally recognized it,' Trump stated in his inaugural address for his 'Shield of the Americas' initiative in Miami, where he invited more than a dozen right-wing leaders from the region” (see in Spanish, Efecto Cocuyo, Trump formally recognizes Delcy Rodríguez's government during the American summit, in https://efectococuyo.com/internacionales/trump-reconoce-formalment-gobierno-delcy-rodriguez/).
With this recognition, what remains of the Maduro regime is being showcased by the Donald Trump administration as a model for other countries: “Trump presents Venezuela as a foreign policy triumph. For the United States, keeping Delcy in power longer could be a useful strategy for projecting an image of success” says analyst Imdat Oner of the Jack D. Gordon Institute and a professor at the University of Florida (see in Spanish, Final Version, Trump tries to sell relationship with Delcy as a replicable model in Iran and Cuba, in https://diarioversionfinal.com/politica-dinero/trump-intenta-vender-relacion-con-delcy-como-modelo-replicable-en-iran-y-cuba/).
Against the backdrop of Trump’s victory—a context in which the regime of Delcy Rodríguez is paraded internationally like a trophy—do you believe that Trump is contemplating loosening his grip on, or altering, the political *status quo* in Venezuela anytime soon? Most certainly not.
And if this is the stark reality confronting us, the next question becomes inescapable: What role falls to us—the political opposition to this newly recognized government—which remains, to all intents and purposes, the very same regime we endured under Nicolás Maduro Moros? As per the colloquial Venezuelan expression of our grandparents’ generation: “The same *musiú*, just with a different pipe.” Or, to frame it more intellectually, it is a “Gattopardian” situation—a reference to Giuseppe Tomasi’s novel *The Leopard*—signifying the act of “feigning profound transformations without actually altering the underlying power structures or fundamental conditions”.
All branches of public power were—and remain—illegitimate. Delcy Rodríguez served as Vice President within an illegitimate executive branch, headed by Nicolás Maduro Moros. Jorge Rodríguez continues to preside over a National Assembly that is utterly null and void—to say nothing of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), the National Electoral Council (CNE), and the Citizen Power branch, which is currently headed by an interim “Ombudsman” responsible for perpetrating the gravest injustices against political prisoners.
What's the difference now compared to before? Since January 3rd, the regime has been responding to different geopolitical interests. It no longer answers to Cuba, Russia, China, and Iran; it answers only to the US, with the approval and gratitude of 82.9% of Venezuelans, according to the CATI Meganalisis Verdad Venezuela survey from February 18th to 25th, 2026 (see Meganalisis Results February 2026, "Are you grateful to Donald Trump?", in https://x.com/Meganalisis/status/2029958228834984161/photo/1).
The above paints a picture of a problem that people seem to overlook. It turns out that, after this recognition, we have an compliant regime, but one backed by the world's most powerful military and economic force. It's no longer just a tutelage awaiting a replacement at any moment. It means that the Maduro regime, now represented by Delcy Rodríguez, can remain in power for as long as the US decides, as the LEGAL GOVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA, secure in the gratitude of the majority of the population.
And this logically creates a contradiction. On the one hand, we are grateful to Donald Trump for getting rid of Maduro, but on the other, 90.1% of Venezuelans disagree with Delcy Rodríguez leading the transition (see Meganalisis Results February 2026, Do you agree that Delcy Rodríguez should lead the transition?, in https://x.com/Meganalisis/status/2029958239320744305/photo/1).
Despite all this, Venezuelans are fully aware that Trump cares more about doing business with the country than about the freedom of its people. When asked the closed-ended question by Meganalisis—"What matters more to President Trump: the complete and immediate freedom of Venezuelans, or conducting oil business with Venezuela?"—61.1% of respondents answered that Trump’s primary interest lies in doing business. But with whom? Clearly, with those who have been running the country as they please for over 27 years. This paints a delicate picture regarding the tolerance of the average Venezuelan toward the new situation—one that began on January 3rd with the jubilation surrounding the extradition of a criminal, yet without any actual change in the regime itself.
Although the average Venezuelan tends to view the new Amnesty Law passed by the regime’s National Assembly as a sham (according to the Meganalisis poll, 68.4% consider the new Amnesty Law to be a fraud), the general mood across the country remains positive regarding the changes implied by remaining within the U.S. orbit, rather than falling under the influence of Cuba, Russia, China, and Iran.
But how much longer can this contradiction be sustained? While it is true that the regime has been ordered to grant total freedom to political prisoners, they have done everything in their power to avoid fully complying—opting instead for a conditional Amnesty Law, without a single objection from the United States. Prisoners are being released only in dribs and drabs—and only those whom the very same tormentors deem appropriate for release. It is a situation of macabre irony, wherein those who ordered the persecutions, imprisonments, and torture are the very same individuals now deciding who gets to walk free.
Furthermore, will the very same people who plundered the public coffers for 27 years be the ones to manage the country’s new oil windfall—a windfall brought about by the conflict in Iran? Will it be the very same people who destroyed PDVSA, the Armed Forces, the public health system, the electrical grid, the water supply, the productive sector—and corrupted the rest of the institutions in the process—who will now resolve the crisis, administer humanitarian aid, and restore order to a new economic landscape? For those individuals are still there, alive and kicking, while Maduro sits in a prison in New York. I beg to remain skeptical on that score. And I could go on asking a countless number of further questions regarding this contradiction, for which there are no answers.
Venezuelans are being asked to be patient—to wait until the decisions being made in the U.S.—the implementation of which is being entrusted to the Rodríguez brothers (one holding the presidency of the Republic and the other, the presidency of the National Assembly)—begin to yield direct and rapid benefits for the population. But can Venezuelans—and, even more to the point, the U.S.—really grapple with such a contradiction? Did these very same figures—now recognized as the legitimate government by the Donald Trump administration—demonstrate the necessary diligence and capacity to tackle Venezuelans' problems during the nearly 30 years they spent serving alongside the "extradited criminal"? These are intriguing questions for those hoping to see things change. As an old professor of mine at IESA used to say, that is akin to expecting the musical group *Las Chicas del Can* to efficiently manage the Vallés Funeral Home—and I offer my apologies for the dated nature of that comparison.
I hope the U.S. has taken notice of this situation; for if I—a mere speck of an opinion in the vast ocean of social media—have managed to spot it, surely a global power like the U.S., with its highly sophisticated intelligence apparatus, ought to be able to offer a clear solution to this glaring contradiction—one that goes beyond simply telling us that everything will soon be resolved through elections.
By this stage, we ought to be seeing ministers and high-level technical experts—technocrats—appointed by the U.S. and answerable solely to them, taking charge of critical issues such as the electricity supply (a fundamental prerequisite for the functioning of the oil industry), public health, taxation, and other matters that directly impact the quality of life for Venezuelans.
We should be seeing new leadership installed at key institutions such as SAIME and CORPOELEC, to cite just two examples. At SAIME, specifically, new leadership is needed to restore order to the chaotic, fraudulent system the Cubans established for the issuance of Venezuelan identification documents. This institution plays a pivotal role in the diplomatic opening envisioned for the new phase of Venezuela-U.S. relations—an opening that would entail recognizing the validity of Venezuelan passports issued to individuals who remain active members of the very same terrorist criminal networks for which Nicolás Maduro Moros is currently standing trial in New York.
If steps are taken in the aforementioned direction, Venezuelans will begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel in this new phase, almost three months after Nicolás Maduro Moros and his wife left office. It would then be justifiable to tolerate the presence of Delcy Rodríguez and her brother, obeying orders from Marco Rubio and Donald Trump, until a new solution is found that definitively restores sovereignty to the Venezuelan people.
In this regard, it should be noted that Venezuelans have finally realized what type of election is most urgently needed to address the country's crisis. When the polling firm Meganalisis asked, "Which of the following types of elections are the most urgent to hold in Venezuela?", 70.6% of Venezuelans answered "Referendum to change the Constitution" and 73.4% "Presidential elections" (see Meganalisis Results February 2026, "Which of the following types of elections are the most urgent to hold in Venezuela?", in https://x.com/Meganalisis/status/2029958237034852612/photo/2). That could be interpreted as a call for a Constituent Assembly first, followed by elections.
As I have mentioned before, the people are not fools. They know that sovereignty resides in their hands, and the only way to ensure its restoration is by convening the Venezuelan people—the Original Constituent Power—to set things right. There is no Messiah here capable of resolving a crisis of this magnitude—one in which we have lost even the capacity to exercise control over our own resources and sovereignty. How could mere elections—which alter only a single branch of government, no matter how closely monitored they may be—possibly address the grave distortions afflicting an entire nation: the social, political, economic, and moral fabric of a people, wrought by nearly 30 years of massive destruction? Once again: if the politicians have not yet grasped that Venezuela must be Refounded, that is of no consequence. What matters is that the people have already understood it...
Caracas, March 11, 2026
Blog: TIC’s & Derechos Humanos, https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/
Email:
luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana
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