Venezuela’s ruling party unity cracks as Delcy complies with U.S.’s demands

Delcy Rodríguez has done away with some of Chávez’s policies, shuffled the government to her liking, and pushed law through National Assembly to overhaul oil industry; Maduro loyalists air disagreements with her government, say an insider’s betrayal helped the U.S. depose the former President

Acting President Delcy Rodriguez during a campaign which she describes as a pilgrimage against U.S. sanctions, in Caracas, Venezuela, in April 2026. REUTERS

Associated Press

It is a slogan that has long encapsulated the unique ability of Hugo Chávez’s fiercely nationalistic revolution to stay in power in Venezuela for 27 years: “United, we will win!”

The young, the old, ruling party leaders and propagandists alike shout it at official events, street demonstrations, and on state television, pumping their fists to show loyalty to the self-described socialist government — and its traditional antipathy toward the United States. Even when confronted with truths that defy such bravado, the diverse coalition of military, ideological, and opportunistic hangers-on has acted in lockstep.

But cracks in that unity have emerged after the stunning U.S. military operation that captured then President Nicolás Maduro in January. Long-time loyalists are airing disagreements with the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez and even discussing publicly rumours that an insider’s betrayal helped the U.S. depose Mr. Maduro.

Change in stance

Ms. Rodríguez has done away with some of Chávez’s policies, complied with U.S. demands, and shuffled the government to her liking, removing ministers, pushing legislation through the National Assembly to overhaul the nation’s oil industry, and releasing political prisoners.

Supporters of Chavismo are making their disapproval known. Many criticise the warming relationship between Ms. Rodríguez’s government and the White House, whose occupant, regardless of party, Chavismo has historically seen as its main adversary.

May’s deportation of a former Minister to face criminal investigations in the U.S. and Ms. Rodríguez’s recent authorisation for the U.S. military to conduct a training exercise in Venezuela’s capital laid bare internal divisions.

Mario Silva spent years spreading pro-government propaganda as the host of a programme on state TV before being removed from the airwaves after Mr. Maduro’s capture. Mr. Silva questioned the legality of the deportation of Alex Saab, a close ally of Mr. Maduro, arguing that it violated a constitutional ban.

He contended that Ms. Rodríguez is not governing freely, as some decisions “are being made in the U.S. Embassy.”

“The imperialists don’t negotiate. They conquer, test and probe — until our country shatters,” Mr. Silva said in a livestream. “Nobody is safe right now. And that is a concrete, terribly dangerous fact.”

On May 23, a few dozen people in Caracas protested the training that saw two Marine Corps Osprey aircraft land at the U.S. Embassy. They held a Venezuelan flag with the message, “No to the Yankee drill” written over it.

‘Humiliating’ situation

Elías Jaua, who served as Chávez’s Vice-President and in Mr. Maduro’s Cabinet in his first years in office, repudiated the exercise on social media. He later told The Associated Press he was speaking up to raise awareness among Venezuelans of the “humiliating” situation facing the country.

“At this stage, the most important thing is to prevent this occupation and this colonial administration to which a nation like Venezuela is being subjected from becoming normalized,” Mr. Jaua said.

Chávez and Mr. Maduro — as well as Ms. Rodríguez, in her previous roles as Vice-President and Communications and Foreign Affairs Minister — had long prophesied that the U.S. would use force to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry, which has opened up to private capital after Mr. Maduro’s capture. The Trump administration oversees oil sales and administers revenues as part of its phased plan to turn the troubled South American country around.

The social, political, and economic crisis that took hold when Mr. Maduro became President in 2013 drove more than 7.7 million people to leave Venezuela and pushed millions of others into poverty. It also led to rounds of anti-government protests and U.S. economic sanctions, both of which the ruling party survived.

Party stalwarts celebrated a Maduro victory in a 2024 election despite overwhelming evidence showing he had lost. They also echoed the party leadership’s denial of a surge of migration.

Andrés Izarra, a Communications Minister under Chávez and Tourism Minister under Mr. Maduro, said the fractures are not based in ideology or a defence of Chavismo, which he believes ended when its founder died in 2013. Mr. Maduro’s interest, he said, was in enriching himself and remaining in power at all costs.

He said self-interest is creating division. “Since there is no ideological foundation, it is simply a struggle for power, money, positions, and survival” Mr. Izarra, who lives in exile since becoming a government target last decade, said. “If they had an ideological interest, they would have spoken much earlier.”

Insider help

Criticism even aired on state TV last month, when a Colombian Leftist leader sitting in the audience of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello’s show stood up and questioned Venezuela’s efforts to free Mr. Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores from U.S. custody.

“We’ve seen a very weak campaign for Cilia and Nicolás’s freedom,” Manuel Caicedo said before a visibly stunned Mr. Cabello.

Another devout Chavista, lawmaker Iris Varela, told a podcaster she believed a government insider had helped the U.S. oust Mr. Maduro. The idea has widely rumoured since President Donald Trump announced that Mr. Maduro had been captured on January 3.

“Of course there’s a betrayal,” Ms. Varela said. “I say that every Christ has a Judas. If our Lord Jesus Christ knew he was going to be betrayed and yet he let Judas kiss him on the cheek, ... won’t a traitor emerge for Maduro?”

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