Venezuela's VIV (Very Important Veep)
Vice Presidential Power in an Authoritarian State
Since we may be going to war with Venezuela (I certainly hope not), it seems like an opportune time to look at the Executive Vice President of the Bolivarian Republic Delcy Rodríguez.
Besides the presence of some pretty impressive U.S. naval power right offshore, the Venezuelan regime is under pressure from multiple directions.
The country is a socio-economic basket case on every level. It is probably the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world not caused by a war. Over the past decade the economy has shrunk by half, Over two-thirds of Venezuela’s 29 million people live in grinding poverty, and over 8 million Venezuelans have fled the country.
Most nations have condemned Venezuela’s elections as illegitimate and the leader of the opposition, María Corina Machado, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Should Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro leave office (one way or another), Vice President Rodríguez could be a central player in shaping Venezuela’s future. More than a few analysts have speculated about her being the next president or leading a transition to a democratic system. Rodríguez and her brother Jorge (a former vice president) have loudly denied that they have proposed themselves to the U.S. as potential alternatives to Maduro.
In most Latin American nations the vice presidency is very much an afterthought, held at a distance by the president—in great part because Latin American vice presidents are more likely to be removed from office. But since it’s new Constitution in 1999 the Venezuelan vice presidency was expressly established to be a key player in the government.1
The Vice Presidency Reborn
The position of vice president of existed in Venezuela from 1830 to 1864. It was reinstated in 1901 and lasted in 1928. In 1999 newly elected president Hugo Chávez held a Constitutional referendum which established the Fifth Republic and reinstated the office as the Executive Vice President.
The new constitution established the Executive Vice President as a quasi-prime minister, with broad responsibilities for overseeing government operations. The VP is appointed and can be dismissed by the president. They preside over the Federal Council on Government (Article 185) which oversees decentralization of authorities to the States and Municipalities in order to ensure balanced development. They preside over the Cabinet of Ministers, when this responsibility is delegated to them by the President. The VP also presides over the Council of State, which is the highest consultative body in the nation and they are a member of the National Defense Council.
From an institutionalist standpoint, the most notable item about the office is that they are appointed by and can be fired by the president. Executives know to be careful about assigning tasks to someone you cannot fire. In the U.S. this applies to VPs and to First Spouses. The option of removal allows Venezuela’s president to give greater authority to the VP.
It is counter-intuitive that weakening the vice presidency in one regard, making the position subject to the president’s pleasure, can strengthen the role in practice. A central goal of Chávez’ new Constitution was to strengthen the presidency and a prime minister-esque vice presidency was a component of this project.
Since the position was re-established, eight individuals were VP under Chávez and another four served under his successor (former vice president) Nicolás Maduro. That’s an average of less than two years in the position. Having taken the position in June of 2018, Rodriguez has had the longest tenure in office. Her brother, Jorge Rodríguez was vice president in 2007. He is currently the president of the National Assembly.
This longevity in office indicates that VP Rodríguez is a combination of loyal and capable.
An A+ Apparatchik
Born in 1969 or 1970, Delcy Rodríguez’ father, leftist guerilla Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, helped found the Socialist League and masterminded the 1976 kidnapping of an American businessman, William Niehous. Rodriguez was arrested on July 23, 1976 and died on July 25 after being tortured. He was 34. Delcy was seven and her brother was ten.
She has a law degree, her brother is a psychiatrist. Both were involved in student and academic politics, attached themselves to the Chávista movement, and rose steadily.2 Delcy Rodríguez’ first role in the government was on the staff of the newly established vice presidency. She had turns in executive positions at the Ministry of Energy and Mines and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She then took high-level positions in Chávez’ office and at the Vice President’s office while her brother held that position. In 2013 President Nicholas Maduro appointed Delcy Rodríguez to Minister for Communication and Information. In late 2014 she became Minister of Foreign Affairs, where she was an aggressive defender of the Maduro regime on the world stage.
She stepped down from that position to preside over the Constituent Assembly, which was elected to revise the Constitution. With the opposition controlling the National Assembly, the Constituent Assembly declared itself the ultimate national authority. In 2018 she became Vice President. As vice president she also oversees the state intelligence agency and in 2024 was given the all-important Petroleum Ministry.
As Vice President, Rodríguez has been a pragmatic fixer. She has obviously not cured the nation’s economic ills. But she has mitigated and buffered some of the effects. In 2021 she spoke at the Annual Assembly of Fedecámaras (the equivalent of the Chamber of Commerce.) This was the first appearance by a leader of the Bolivarian regime in 20 years and a significant move for the ostensibly Socialist movement. It was also necessary. She offered a new regime openness to the private sector, on the condition that they stay out of politics.3
As VP (and oil minister) Rodríguez has travelled to China and other allies to push oil sales, privatized small oil fields and other natural resources, and has overseen efforts to buffer Venezuela against U.S. sanctions—including moving much of the nation’s finances to crypto. The VP has her fingers in in many pies, including the management of the nation’s oldest university and even the national soccer team.
The VP is also head of SEBIN, the main intelligence agency, which has the mission of protecting the Bolivarian revolution.4 SEBIN spies on and disappears journalists and other dissidents and uses torture. It is a central component to the state’s apparatus of repression.5
DelcyGate
The ultimate test of one’s status in an a criminal autocracy is whether or not they are sanctioned, and Vice President Rodríguez, along with the rest of Maduro’s inner circle, has been under U.S. sanctions since September 2018 for their criminal activities and repressing democracy.
She was also sanctioned by the European Union, Canada, and others. In many cases these sanctions were played on Venezuelan officials before the United States did so.
Also, her plane is sanctioned and was seized earlier this year.
That’s led to some weird stuff.
In January 20, 2020 VP Rodríguez, along with a delegation, landed at the Madrid airport. The plane and the rest of the delegation were on their way to Turkey. Sanctioned by the EU, Rodríguez was not permitted on Spanish soil. Spain’s Transport Minister Jose Luis Ábalos and businessman Victor de Aldama went onto the vice president’s plane—ostensibly to ensure that she did not try to enter Spain. (She did ultimately go to the VIP section of the airport to transfer to a commercial flight to Doha.)6 In 2024, Spain’s Guardia Civil, investigating Aldama and Ábalos for corruption, found that Ábalos had invited Rodríguez to Spain and that Delcy tried to sell Aldama 104 ingots of Venezuelan gold (easily worth over $50 million).
This alleged gold deal highlights that VP Rodríguez is a central figure in Venezuela’s kleptocracy. Should Maduro depart the scene the vice president is not a secret reformer. She may be pragmatic, but she will also have the resources and skill to slow-roll any transition.
I cite them throughout, but the great Caracas Chronicles is a fantastic source for all things Venezuela!
Jorge Rodríguez was mayor of Caracas from 2009 to 2017. He has also been the president of the National Electoral Council and Minister for Communication and Information (a position his sister had held previously.)
There some history here. In 2002 there was an attempted coup against Chávez and the temporary president installed was prominent businessman Pedro Carmona. That lasted for 36 hours.
The Bolivarian regime has been advised by the Cubans from the beginning and one area where the Cuban regime excels is intelligence.
The support both Rodríguez siblings give for the most heinous acts of their government is particularly sad given the fate of their father.
Of course there’s a Qatar angle to all of this, they’re into everything!