In a calculated move, President Trump opted to keep Venezuela’s reins in the hands of Nicolás Maduro’s top loyalists following the dictator’s dramatic capture. A classified CIA assessment warned that thrusting opposition figures into power could unleash chaos, with military elites turning against them and sparking a full-blown meltdown.
The revelation explains why Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president, remains in place as interim leader—despite her deep ties to the socialist cartel that ravaged the country and flooded U.S. borders with migrants and drugs.
The Wall Street Journal reported the development, citing sources familiar with the intelligence review. The CIA brief, shared with Trump and a tight circle of advisors, concluded that figures like Rodríguez were best suited to hold short-term stability after Maduro’s ouster.
Exclusive: Ahead of the U.S. incursion into Venezuela on Saturday, the CIA had concluded that Maduro loyalists were better placed to lead the country than the opposition was https://t.co/VygkmLHGb7
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 5, 2026
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader if she doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within the country,” Trump said of opposition leader María Corina Machado during a Saturday press conference. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
Trump emphasized that Venezuela’s immediate future hinged on a leader who could command loyalty from the military and ruling class, per insiders quoted by the outlet.
The CIA didn’t push for regime change but analyzed post-Maduro scenarios, identifying Rodríguez and two other regime heavyweights as viable interim options to avert governmental collapse, the report claims.
Former officials pointed to Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino as key power brokers—both facing U.S. charges like Maduro’s—but hostile to Washington. In contrast, the assessment deemed Machado and Edmundo González, seen as the 2024 election’s real winner, ill-equipped to handle pushback from pro-regime forces, drug networks, and rivals.
Despite the snub, Machado gushed over Trump in a Fox News interview, even floating sharing her October Nobel Peace Prize with him: “Because this is the prize of the Venezuelan people, certainly we want to give it to him and share it with him.”
coveted for years.
— Wunderkind (@EngineerNGR) January 6, 2026
“Because this is the prize of the Venezuelan people, certainly we want to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado told the Fox News host Sean Hannity. She said that she had not spoken to Trump since October, when she dedicated the prize to him. pic.twitter.com/gAq8pVpfwT
She blasted Rodríguez as “one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco trafficking,” adding, “She’s the main ally and liaison with Russia, China, Iran, certainly not an individual that could be trusted by international investors. And she’s really rejected, repudiated by the Venezuelan people.”
Venezuelan Opposition Leader María Corina Machado:
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 6, 2026
Delcy Rodríguez is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, and narco-trafficking.
She is a main ally of Russia, China, and Iran – certainly someone who cannot be trusted by international investors. pic.twitter.com/iFw5XPdi6I
Trump dismissed quick elections: “We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote,” he told NBC News. “No, it’s going to take a period of time. We have — we have to nurse the country back to health.”
This setup keeps the socialist framework as a temporary placeholder, with analysts viewing it as a pragmatic U.S. strategy to maintain order and dodge a civil war bloodbath that could spiral instability across the region.
Tying into reports of armed pro-regime militias unleashing door-to-door hunts for Trump supporters in Caracas, the decision underscores fears of violent backlash if opposition took the helm too soon.
Venezuelan exile Alejandro Peña Esclusa echoed the cartel entrenchment in a GB News interview, stating: “The Cartel of the Suns which is the most important cartel, drug cartel in the Western Hemisphere, is running my country, Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro is just a head of it.” He urged U.S. military aid to smash it, highlighting why propping up insiders might be the least-bad option for now.
Rodríguez, sworn in as interim president, decried Maduro’s capture as a “kidnapping of two heroes” and lamented the “sorrow for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people following an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland.”
??Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez calls Maduro and his wife “hostages” as she is sworn in as interim President.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) January 6, 2026
“I come with the pain for the kidnapping of two heroes who are being held hostage in the United States.”
Trump has issued a warning to Rodriguez, saying… pic.twitter.com/fUZSNYtpgK
Yet Trump warned she’d better cooperate or face a “very big price,” while White House advisor Stephen Miller revealed backchannel compliance: “The government has sent messages… making clear that they will meet the terms, demands, conditions, and requirements of the United States.”
Miller doubled down on U.S. dominance: “By definition, we are in charge because we have the United States military stationed outside the country. We set the terms and conditions.”
New polling shows high Venezuelan support for Maduro’s arrest, tempered by long-term U.S. involvement worries, with relief from conservatives that the op avoided toppling the entire regime.
Trump eyed Venezuela’s oil riches: “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt affirmed: “The President and his national security team are making realistic decisions to finally ensure Venezuela aligns with the interests of the United States, and becomes a better country for the Venezuelan people.”
This hard-nosed approach crushes the narco-threat at America’s doorstep, ending the weak-kneed diplomacy that let Maduro’s rot fester for years.
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