Screenwriter Gaba Agudo Adriani was using GPS to find a friend’s house in Caracas when she ended up on a street blocked off by police and checkpoints. It took her several seconds to realize not only that Delcy Rodríguez lives there, but who Delcy Rodríguez is now. That moment of bewilderment perfectly encapsulates a common feeling about the country’s new reality. After years trapped waiting for change, Venezuela has entered a new phase without its citizens fully understanding where they stand. Reality shifted abruptly, but remains shrouded in a mixture of optimism and uncertainty. Something has changed: the difficult part is defining how much, in what direction, and for how long. Although it does seem irreversible.
In Caracas, Nicolás Maduro’s name and face still appear on some billboards and television ads, but his presence has faded until it has disappeared from everyday conversations. And even from the sphere of power. Almost three months after his capture in a dramatic U.S. operation and just weeks before his trial begins in New York, the country functions—better—without him.
Instead, Delcy Rodríguez is gaining ground within Chavismo, and while she hasn’t dismantled the system that sustains her, she has been sidelining those most loyal to her predecessor in an attempt to distance herself from Maduro’s regime. In recent weeks, Rodríguez has shaken up her cabinet, replacing some ministers with others more aligned with her leadership. She has also dismantled the military hierarchy—including the powerful Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino—that controlled the country even after the defensive failure that resulted in Maduro’s capture. The new generals don’t represent a break—they remain loyal to the Bolivarian Revolution—but they are now her handpicked appointees.
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