- Rodriguez reshuffles cabinet after US-backed transition in Venezuela.
- US pressure mounts as Venezuela drops Maduro ally Alex Saab.
- US deportation flight returns Venezuelans after Maduro’s ouster.
Venezuela’s interim president on Friday dismissed businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of ousted leader Nicolas Maduro, from his post as industry minister.
In a telegram message, Delcy Rodriguez announced that the ministry would be combined with a trade ministry and thanked Saab – a Colombian-born Venezuelan – “for his service to the homeland; he will take on new tasks.”
The change comes under pressure from Washington after the January 3 US military strike that ousted Maduro.
Saab, who was released in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, was appointed to office in 2024 by Maduro.
He had been arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 on an Interpol notice of allegations that he had served as a money launderer for the socialist leader.
He was subsequently extradited to the United States, where he and his business partner Alvaro Pulido were accused of running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela.
Saab’s dismissal is among the latest major changes in Venezuela’s Rodriguez government since the US capture of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, meanwhile, said her country is starting a “true transition” to democracy and will be free with the support of the United States and President Donald Trump.
However, Trump has sidelined Nobel laureate Machado and backed former vice president Rodriguez as interim leader of the oil-rich country following the impeachment of Maduro.
“We are certainly now in the first steps of a true transition to democracy,” Machado said at an event in Washington, adding that this will have a “tremendous impact on the lives of all Venezuelans” as well as around the region and the world.
“Venezuela will be free and it will be achieved with the support of the people of the United States and the president, Donald Trump,” Machado said.
Her party has presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election – claims supported by Washington and much of the international community.
But Trump has said Machado does not have enough support among Venezuelans and has chosen to stick with Rodriguez as long as she spearheads U.S. access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Machado said Friday that Rodriguez is “following orders” rather than acting on his own accord.
The opposition leader’s remarks came a day after the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe, met Rodriguez in Caracas.
Ratcliffe traveled to Venezuela to “deliver the message that the United States is looking forward to an improved working relationship,” a US administration official said on condition of anonymity.
Nobel medal
In a sign of improved relations, a US deportation plane carrying 231 Venezuelans landed in Caracas on Friday, the first since Maduro’s ouster.
Trump has made cracking down on undocumented immigrants a major part of his second term, conducting sweeping immigration raids and deporting migrants.
Machado, 58, presented his Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump on Thursday in a bid to win over the US president.
“He deserves it,” she said. “And it was a very emotional moment that I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela.”
It was not immediately clear whether Trump – who said Friday that he and Machado will “talk again” – kept the award after their lunch at the White House. The Norwegian Nobel Committee says its prizes are not transferable.
Trump had fought hard to win last year’s award, falsely claiming to have stopped eight wars since taking office, but it went to Machado instead.
Trump and Rodriguez had their first phone call Wednesday, and the White House said he “likes what he sees” from her.
However, Rodriguez said her government will stand up to Washington.
“We know they are very powerful… we are not afraid to confront them diplomatically through political dialogue,” she said Thursday.
Rodriguez delivered Maduro’s state of the nation address to parliament while the longtime authoritarian leader sits in a New York prison facing drug-trafficking charges.
By contrast, Machado, who spent years fighting to topple leftist Maduro, was greeted by jubilant supporters in Washington.
