Venezuela's Interim Head Is Named In More Than A Dozen Drug Trafficking Investigations

• 18.01.2026, 19:28

The U.S. has detailed information on Delcy Rodriguez.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who has been cooperating with the U.S. since the kidnapping of ruler Nicolas Maduro, is featured in more than 15 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigations. She was even labeled a "priority target" in 2022, a term applied to suspects with "significant influence" on drug trafficking, Associated Press reported, citing documents and law enforcement officials.

When U.S. President Donald Trump announced Maduro's detention, he presented Rodriguez as a credible leader and a desirable partner to stabilize Venezuela, a country facing chaos over drug trafficking, corruption and economic problems. Drug trafficking from Venezuela was cited as one of the main reasons for the operation, and after the operation, Trump began regularly praising Rodriguez.

The DEA, however, has compiled a detailed dossier on the vice president, including her associates and charges ranging from drug trafficking to gold smuggling. According to one confidential informant, Rodriguez used hotels in the Caribbean resort "as a front for money laundering." She was also linked last year to a likely Maduro associate, Alex Saab, who was arrested in 2020 in the U.S. on money laundering charges. Publicly, the U.S. government has never brought charges against Rodriguez, although she is part of Maduro's inner circle.

"The current Venezuelan government is a criminal-hybrid regime. The only way to reach a position of power in it is, at the very least, by facilitating criminal activity. It's not the system's fault, it's the system itself," notes Steve Dudley, co-director of InSight Crime, a think tank specializing in organized crime in the Americas.

A similar assessment is made by Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who says the U.S. justice system "has enough information on Rodriguez."