{"id":7162,"date":"2026-01-29T13:40:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7162"},"modified":"2026-01-29T13:40:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:40:40","slug":"u-s-intelligence-doubts-venezuelas-interim-leader-will-fully-align-with-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7162","title":{"rendered":"U.S. intelligence doubts Venezuela\u2019s interim leader will fully align with Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. intelligence assessments question whether Venezuela\u2019s interim president, <strong>Delcy Rodr\u00edguez<\/strong>, will sever Caracas\u2019s ties with U.S. adversaries and cooperate fully with the Trump administration\u2019s strategy, according to four sources familiar with recent reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials in Washington have urged Rodr\u00edguez to expel diplomats and advisers from <strong>Iran, China, and Russia<\/strong>\u2014states whose envoys attended her swearing-in earlier this month\u2014and to unwind security and energy relationships built under Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, detained by the United States on <strong>Jan. 3<\/strong>. Rodr\u00edguez has not issued any formal break with those partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CIA Director <strong>John Ratcliffe<\/strong> met Rodr\u00edguez in <strong>Caracas on Jan. 15<\/strong> to discuss Venezuela\u2019s political roadmap, the sources said, but the meeting did not dispel analytic skepticism. While Rodr\u00edguez has taken steps seen as conciliatory\u2014releasing some political detainees and authorizing the sale of <strong>30\u201350 million barrels of crude<\/strong> to the United States\u2014she also publicly complained of U.S. \u201cinterference\u201d in a weekend speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The administration views curbing rival influence in the Western Hemisphere and unlocking U.S. <strong>energy investment<\/strong> in Venezuela as key objectives; if Rodr\u00edguez resists, officials fear Washington\u2019s leverage could diminish and plans to avoid direct military intervention could fray. As a hedge, U.S. interlocutors are also maintaining quiet contacts with senior <strong>military and security<\/strong> figures, the sources said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Intelligence reporting also casts opposition figure <strong>Mar\u00eda Corina Machado<\/strong> as a potential <strong>long-term<\/strong> leadership option, though analysts judge she currently lacks the institutional ties in the security forces and state oil sector needed to govern. President Trump has said he wants her \u201cconnected\u201d to the leadership and advisers are weighing a formal advisory role, according to officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>CIA<\/strong> and the <strong>Venezuelan government<\/strong> did not comment. A senior U.S. official said the administration will maintain \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d and expects continued cooperation from Venezuela\u2019s leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. intelligence assessments question whether Venezuela\u2019s interim president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, will sever Caracas\u2019s ties with U.S. adversaries and cooperate fully with the Trump administration\u2019s strategy, according to four sources familiar with recent reporting. Officials in Washington have urged Rodr\u00edguez to expel diplomats and advisers from Iran, China, and Russia\u2014states whose envoys attended her swearing-in earlier [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7166,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7162\/revisions\/7166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}