Delcy Rodríguez calls for cooperation with US while Trump demands ‘total access’ in Venezuela

In her first statement as the new “acting president of Venezuela,” Delcy Rodríguez sent a conciliatory message to the United States that contrasted with the usual belligerent tone used by Chavismo against Washington. Meanwhile, Donald Trump kept up the threats, demanding “total access” to the country’s “oil and to other things” while maintaining that “we’re in charge.”

Less than 48 hours after the attack that decapitated the Venezuelan regime with the capture of Nicolás Maduro, Rodríguez, far from being confrontational, has extended an olive branch to the enemy. “We extend an invitation to the U.S. government to work together on a cooperative agenda, oriented toward shared development, within the framework of international law, and to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” reads a post on her Instagram account.

It was a surprisingly conciliatory message “to the world” and “to the United States.” Despite nearly a hundred possible casualties of the U.S. attack in Caracas early Saturday morning, including 32 Cubans who were part of her inner security detail, the former vice president asserted that it is a “priority” to move toward a “balanced and respectful” relationship with the U.S. and the countries of the region, “based on sovereign equality and non-interference.”

Rodríguez’s tone was a far cry from the usual terms Chavismo uses to describe Washington. There was no mention of imperialism, violations of international law, or the theft of natural resources—accusations that have been recurring during these four months of escalating tensions between the two countries. There was only a tepid condemnation of U.S. intervention in Venezuela: “Our country aspires to live without external threats.”

In a direct appeal to President Donald Trump, Rodríguez wrote: “Our people and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war. That has always been President Nicolás Maduro’s position, and it is the position of all Venezuelans right now. That is the Venezuela I believe in, the one to which I have dedicated my life. My dream is for Venezuela to be a great power where all good Venezuelans can come together.”

The new leader of the South American country made these remarks even as Washington increasingly sharpens its demands that Venezuelan authorities comply with its orders. “We’re in charge,” the U.S. president emphasized on Sunday night.

“We need total access. We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country, to roads and bridges to rebuild them,” Trump said in remarks from Air Force One, returning to Washington after two weeks at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. And if the new authorities are not cooperative there will be a second attack, said the president, who in an interview with The Atlantic had already warned the new Venezuelan leader that if she “doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”

According to Trump, in the conversations his team has held with the Venezuelan leader, there has still been no talk about the release of political prisoners, one of the demands made by the opposition movement led by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition