Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez makes a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez makes a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez used her first state of the union speech on Thursday to promote oil industry reforms that would allow greater foreign investment, an objective aggressively pushed by the Trump administration since it toppled the country’s longtime leader less than two weeks ago.
RodrĂguez, who has been under pressure from the U.S. to fall in line with its vision for the oil-rich nation, said sales of Venezuelan oil would go to bolster crisis-stricken health services, economic development and other infrastructure projects.
While she sharply criticized the Trump administration and said there was a “stain on our relations,” the former vice president also outlined a distinct vision for the future between the two historic adversaries, straying from her predecessors, who have long railed against American intervention in Venezuela.
“Let us not be afraid of diplomacy” with the U.S., said Rodriguez, who must now navigate competing and a to former President Nicolás Maduro.
The speech, which was broadcast on a delay in Venezuela, came one day after RodrĂguez said her government would continue detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster.
On Thursday, Trump with Venezuelan opposition leader MarĂa Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have rejected by Maduro. But in endorsing RodrĂguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump has sidelined Machado.
On Thursday, RodrĂguez said money earned from foreign oil sales would go into two funds: one dedicated to social services for workers and the public health care system, and another to economic development and infrastructure projects.
Hospitals and other health care facilities across the country have long suffered. Patients are asked to provide practically all supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws. Economic turmoil, among other factors, has pushed millions of Venezuelans to migrate from the South American nation in recent years.
In moving forward, the acting president must walk a tightrope, balancing pressures from both Washington and top Venezuelan officials who hold sway over Venezuela's security forces and strongly oppose the U.S. Her recent public speeches reflect those tensions — vacillating from conciliatory calls for cooperation with the U.S., to defiant rants echoing the anti-imperialist rhetoric of her toppled predecessor.
American authorities have long railed against a government they describe as a “dictatorship,” while Venezuela’s government has built a powerful populist ethos sharply opposed to U.S. meddling in its affairs.
For the foreseeable future, RodrĂguez's government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections. That's because when Venezuela’s high court granted RodrĂguez presidential powers on an acting basis, it cited a provision of the constitution that allows the vice president to take over for a renewable period of 90 days.
Trump enlisted RodrĂguez to help secure despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term. To ensure she does his bidding, Trump threatened RodrĂguez earlier this month with a “situation probably worse than Maduro.”
Maduro, who is being has pleaded not guilty to .
Before RodrĂguez’s speech on Thursday, a group of government supporters was allowed into the presidential palace, where they chanted for Maduro, who the government insists remains the country’s president. “Maduro, resist, the people are rising,” they shouted.
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