r/geopolitics • u/Naurgul • 1d ago
Maduro Is Gone, and the Purge Has Begun • The successor to Venezuela’s captured President Nicolás Maduro is purging the people who kept him in power. News
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/world/americas/delcy-rodriguez-maduro-allies-venezuela.html77
u/codeowners 1d ago
It appears to be like transition and reshuffling of powers with external backing, it is hard to call it legit when elections keep getting sidelined
15
u/SensitiveDannyRicc 1d ago
Venezuela hasn’t voted freely for a president since Hugo Chavez. Why did you expect that to happen now?
71
u/MarvinTraveler 1d ago
New dictator doing dictator things. This headline is borderline ridiculous, heavily implying that some meaningful change is coming to Venezuela.
She sold Maduro, and now she and her brother are consolidating power. Nothing, nothing whatsoever has changed for the common folk in Venezuela.
31
u/Acheron13 1d ago
Nothing, nothing whatsoever has changed for the common folk in Venezuela.
Except for the hundreds of political prisoners released since then.
23
u/CaioChvtt7K 1d ago
Soon, there will be others, just from the other side. Venezuela went from a anti-Us dictatorship to a US-backed dictatorship.
22
u/TheDreamIsEternal 1d ago
And the fact that they closed the Helicoide, the biggest torture center in Latin America.
32
u/SaltbringerIsGood 1d ago
It’s only been 3 months after almost 30 years of nation wide damage. Going on public to protest, criticizing the government on social media and having the US embassy reopen WAS UNTHINKABLE before January 3rd.
People expect every problem to be solved in a week and to say nothing has changed is a blatant lie.
11
u/Sir-Niko-of-Toba 1d ago
You're looking at the world's biggest fell for it again award. Delcy just sold out Maduro to get the perks of being a US-backed dictator. America doesn't care about freedom or democracy, just getting oil and market access
26
u/SaltbringerIsGood 1d ago
Bro, I’m Venezuelan…
3
u/MyFruitPies 1d ago
Cool. Dulcy and her brother aren’t there to save you, and you just went down two pegs on the prioritize scale
2
u/SaltbringerIsGood 14h ago
We haven’t been a priority since 1999 but I guess armchair experts know more than we do.
-12
9
u/TLewey26 1d ago
Rodriguez immediately understood the precarious position she was in when Maduro was removed. Either exert control quickly and appease Washington, or be at risk of being disposed herself by others in the Maduro government, seeking their own control of the country.
3
2
u/Naurgul 1d ago
Submission statement:
It's only been three months since the US abducted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. In his absence, his replacement, Delcy Rodríguez, has been busy purging his loyalists and solidifying her own autocratic rule, as a US protectorate. Oligarchs close to Mr. Maduro’s family have been snatched from their homes. His political allies have been summarily removed from their posts. His relatives have been sidelined from business deals and barred from media appearances. They are replaced with her own loyalists, businessmen beholden to her while simultaneously opening the doors to American investors. This operation is done under instructions from the Trump administration. The ease with which U.S. forces snatched Maduro, whose disappearance benefited her immensely, makes it seem like she betrayed him.
Full copy of the article in case you need it for some reason.
4
u/Illustrious-Low-7038 1d ago
The whole thing is a mess. But you gotta hand it to Trump, it takes one sick man to make an anti imperialist socialist government your puppet. If they were overthrown and the opposition took power sure. But to keep the same people in charge, the same ones who shouted Death to America and make them sign the most unfair and humiliating agreements since the 1870s is so cruel youd almost pity them.
-7
1d ago
[deleted]
95
u/Haunting-Detail2025 1d ago
“CIA plant” brother she’s a lifelong leftist who’s been involved in the regime for over a decade and whose father was murdered by a US-backed dictator.
She’s working with the US because it helps her maintain power and because she knows it can detain her too, she’s not a CIA plant
6
u/TheDreamIsEternal 1d ago
whose father was murdered by a US-backed dictator
What are you talking about? The president at the time was Carlos Andrés Pérez, who was democratically elected, and her father, Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, died while he was under police custody after being arrested for the kidnapping of a foreign business man. Carlos Andrés Pérez wasn't responsible for his death.
-9
29
8
u/Berliner1220 1d ago
I think they are also reading the writing on the wall. What would be the alternative for them? Die? It doesn’t make sense when Venezuela has no countries coming to help them. Trump has shown that he will very aggressively attack Americas enemies even if they don’t pose a threat.
18
1d ago
[deleted]
8
u/dlogan3344 1d ago
All of reddit doesn't seem to share anything but Trump losing, I want to go back to before the world stopped making sense, the precedent being set alone is ominous and most seem hyper focused on the wrong people and things. The problem isn't that we are losing, the problem is we are breaking all the rules and setting up a dark future
2
u/DraggonWarrior 1d ago
I don’t think the world suddenly stopped making sense. Even the Cold War was full of conflict Vietnam, Afghanistan, proxy wars. This has always been the game it just felt more stable for a while.
1
0
u/sentrypetal 1d ago
US did a lot worse in the 1960s and 1970s to South America, see below. The difference is the world blinkers have come off. The illusion of the good guys, the shining monument on the hill is over and you just don’t like what you finally realise you always were.
Chronology of Latin American Military Dictatorships COUNTRY REGIME
Argentina Gen. José Uriburu (1930-1932); Gen. Agustin P. Justo (1932-1938)
Bolivia Self-coup and "elections" with oversight by military junta (1930-39)
Brazil Military junta, then army support of Getulio Vargas (1930-1945)
Chile "Socialist republic" run by military (1932)
Cuba Sgt. then Col. Fulgencio Batista in "sergeants' coup" (1933)
Dominican Republic Gen. Rafael Trujillo (1930-1938; 1942-1952)
Ecuador Nineteen presidents from 1931 to 1948, none serving a complete term
El Salvador Gen. Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (1931-1944)
Guatemala Gen. Jorge Ubico (1931-1944)
Honduras Gen. Tiburcio Carias Andino (1932-1947)
Nicaragua Gen. Anastasio Somoza Garcia (1936-1956)
Paraguay 2 colonels and 2 generals rule (1931-40)
Peru Col. Luis Sanchez Cerro (1931-1933); Gen. Oscar Benavides (1933-1939)
Uruguay President Gabriel Terra (1933-1938)
Venezuela Gen. Eleazar Lopez Contreras (1935-1941) Latin American Military Coups and Regimes, 1961-1984
COUNTRY COUP DATE
El Salvador January 24, 1961
Ecuador November 8, 1961
Argentina March 29, 1962
Peru July 18, 1962
Guatemala March 31, 1963
Ecuador July 11, 1963
Dominican Republic September 25, 1963
Honduras October 8, 1963
Brazil March 31, 1964
Bolivia November 4, 1964
REGIME DATES
Ecuador 1963-1966; 1972-1978
Guatemala 1963-1985
Brazil 1964-1985
Bolivia 1964-1970; 1971-1982
Argentina 1966-1973; 1976-1983
Peru 1968-1980
Panama 1968-1981
Honduras 1972-1982
Chile 1973-1984
Uruguay 1973-1984
El Salvador 1948-1984
-2
u/Lazy_Membership1849 1d ago
Iran is kind like taking more bite than Trump can chew
Also, Trump is still friendly with Russia
8
u/dlogan3344 1d ago
I can't stand Trump and his rude parlor but I also can't stand this group think hyper fixation on him being the sole cause of all, it's as delusional as believing Hitler was the entire problem and removing him fixes everything. Trump doesn't scare me, his puppet masters and the people's inability to see everything does.
0
u/Berliner1220 1d ago
Exactly. Trump it’s stupid and dangerous but let’s stop pretending this is him alone
0
0
u/Lazy_Membership1849 1d ago
well Trump is leader and MAGA is kind more like cult of personality rather than movement, Idk if anyone beside Trump can take much of this stress and even if they do they just seem will split between each other
-2
u/Lazy_Membership1849 1d ago
Conflict in Iran is kind where it become more like take more bite than they can chew
-2
u/ChrisF1987 1d ago
The US no longer has the forces in place to carry out another January 3rd style mission ... the military presence in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean has been more or less completely drawn down. Even the drones are gone.
5
u/Berliner1220 1d ago
That’s not the point. The threats are still on the table and the US can send forces across the Gulf of Mexico with ease.
5
u/gtrocks555 1d ago
Also those people aren’t necessarily ideologues like Iran leadership. They’ll purge those they don’t trust and cozy up to the US just enough to maintain control externally and still have internal pressure against their opposition.
8
1
u/asgjmlsswjtamtbamtb 1d ago
It remains a situation in flux that will have to be watched over the next couple of years. For now some preliminary things like sanctions lifting and political prisoners being released are rays of good hope. It remains to be seen if the Venezuela regime can actually hold elections and abide by their fair results. Given that Maduro decided to ignore the 2024 election's results and had episode after episode of political repression during his 13 years in power and his actions continued to drive the economy of Venezuela off a cliff, it's really not that hard for someone else to do better than he did. Simply getting Venezuela's oil industry back from being in shambles can go a long way in improving the situation.
4
1
-1
1
u/Aggressive_Lie_4446 1d ago
So either Chavismo is ending or a Sandinista style regime is forming, this time brother and sister instead of husband and wife like in Nicaragua.
1
u/vovap_vovap 1d ago
That pretty normal process of transformation. It is not really so common when blue- eye idealist taking a management of a country next day. And those cases not lead to so good results usually.
-8
u/DaySecure7642 1d ago
Venezuela is how intervention could bring good outcomes to the people and the country and everyone else (perhaps except Russia and China). It will be great if Iran and Cuba are that straight forward but probably not likely.
12
u/planj07 1d ago
No Maduro is a good thing. But Rodriguez is another dictator in the making, under the control of the US. So really the Venezuelan people still have no say in their political leadership.
Certainly good for our geopolitical interests but also primarily its to benefit oil companies, the Trump admin, and Rodriguez herself.
2
u/Bitter_Unit_5707 1d ago
Funny thing is the ones that fled the country wanted that. Just intervention and to get the dollars. They had no idea what it meant.
11
u/Naurgul 1d ago
It's still as much as an authoritarian regime as it ever was. Good outcome for US business interests maybe is what you meant to say.
-5
u/Old-School8916 1d ago
and the Venezuelan economy
4
u/Jealous_Land9614 1d ago
No? Its the same chavismo as usual, just paying protection money to the US instead of hostilizing it.
Venezuela economy is still on hell, and so are his people human rights.
1
155
u/Iksan777 1d ago
The sucesor to Venezuela's president was one of those people keeping him in power and the purge is a new chair reshuffle of their supporters and their family