Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez revealed in a leaked video that she and other senior government officials were threatened by the United States with death if they did not comply with Washington following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on January 3rd.
In the video, reportedly recorded on January 10th, one week after Maduro was taken into U.S. custody, Rodríguez is seen speaking in a closed-door meeting with pro-government social media influencers. She claims U.S. officials contacted her and other senior figures immediately after Maduro’s capture, issuing an ultimatum that they had 15 minutes to cooperate or be killed.
Rodríguez described the situation as one of “constant pressure and blackmail” beginning the moment Maduro was seized. In the video, she appears to acknowledge that she agreed to cooperate with Washington, stating that her decision was made to preserve political power for the Chavista movement and maintain continuity of the state, rather than risk total collapse through resistance or unconditional surrender.
According to Rodríguez, the threats were not limited to her alone. She said Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a close Maduro ally, as well as her brother Jorge Rodríguez, a former National Assembly president and key political operator, were also targeted with similar threats.
Multiple reports, however, have previously pointed to Rodríguez herself as a central figure in secret negotiations with the United States prior to Maduro’s capture. These reports claim she engaged in covert talks in Doha, Qatar, and agreed not to resist a U.S. operation to detain Maduro in exchange for retaining political influence after his removal.
The success of the January 3rd operation has fueled speculation of an internal betrayal. U.S. Delta Force units reportedly flew directly into Caracas using low-flying Black Hawk helicopters—maneuvers that would typically be vulnerable to Venezuela’s air defense systems—capturing Maduro and his wife and extracting them from the country with only one reported injury.
Videos that surfaced following the operation appeared to show Venezuela’s S-300 air defense systems offline or disconnected, raising further questions as to whether key defenses were intentionally disabled ahead of the raid, despite escalating tensions with Washington in the weeks prior.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump claimed that a previously undisclosed weapon, referred to as the “Discombobulator,” was used to disable Venezuela’s communications and air defenses before the operation. Venezuelan military figures have echoed claims of a sudden systems failure, though skepticism remains among analysts who believe the narrative of a new superweapon may be intended to obscure internal cooperation that enabled Maduro’s capture.