- Rodríguez reorganizes the cabinet after the US-backed transition in Venezuela.
- US pressure increases as Venezuela abandons Maduro ally Alex Saab.
- US deportation flight returns Venezuelans after Maduro’s overthrow.
Venezuela’s interim president on Friday fired businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of ousted leader Nicolás Maduro, from his position as industry minister.
In a Telegram message, Delcy Rodríguez announced that the ministry would be combined with a Ministry of Commerce and thanked Saab, a Venezuelan born in Colombia, “for his service to the Homeland; he will assume new responsibilities.”
The change comes amid pressure from Washington following the Jan. 3 U.S. military incursion that toppled Maduro.
Saab, freed in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, was appointed to the position in 2024 by Maduro.
He had been arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 due to an Interpol notice regarding accusations that he had laundered money for the socialist leader.
He was later extradited to the United States, where he and his business partner Álvaro Pulido were accused of running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela.
Saab’s dismissal is one of the latest key changes made by Rodríguez in Venezuela’s government since the capture of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores by the United States.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said her country is beginning a “true transition” toward democracy and will be free with the support of the United States and President Donald Trump.
Trump, however, has sidelined Nobel laureate Machado and backed former Vice President Rodriguez as interim leader of the oil-rich country following Maduro’s takeover.
“We are definitely in the first steps of a true transition to democracy,” Machado said during an event in Washington, adding that this will have an “immense impact on the lives of all Venezuelans” as well as throughout the region and the world.
“Venezuela is going to be free and that is going to be achieved with the support of the people of the United States and President Donald Trump,” said Machado.
His party has presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 elections, claims supported by Washington and much of the international community.
But Trump has said Machado does not have enough support among Venezuelans and opted to stay with Rodríguez as long as she toes the line on U.S. access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Machado said Friday that Rodriguez is “following orders” rather than acting of his own free will.
The opposition leader’s comments came a day after the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe, met with Rodríguez in Caracas.
Ratcliffe traveled to Venezuela to “convey the message that the United States expects a better working relationship,” a U.S. administration official said on condition of anonymity.
nobel medal
In a sign of that improved relationship, a U.S. deportation flight carrying 231 Venezuelans landed in Caracas on Friday, the first since Maduro’s ouster.
Trump has made cracking down on undocumented immigrants a major part of his second term, carrying out sweeping immigration raids and deporting immigrants.
Machado, 58, presented his Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump on Thursday in a bid to win over the US president.
“He deserves it,” he said. “And it was a very emotional moment, I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela.”
It was not immediately clear whether Trump, who said Friday that he and Machado “will talk again,” retained the award after his lunch at the White House. The Norwegian Nobel Committee says its prizes cannot be transferred.
Trump had campaigned hard to win last year’s award, falsely claiming to have stopped eight wars since taking office, but it went to Machado instead.
Trump and Rodriguez had their first phone call on Wednesday and the White House said he “likes what he’s seeing” from her.
Rodríguez said, however, that his government will stand up to Washington.
“We know they are very powerful… we are not afraid to confront them diplomatically, through political dialogue,” he said Thursday.
Rodriguez was delivering Maduro’s state of the nation address to parliament while the longtime authoritarian leader is in a New York jail facing drug trafficking charges.
By contrast, Machado, who campaigned for years to end Maduro’s leftist government, was greeted by jubilant supporters in Washington.
