6 ms·

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is in charge, so nothing is gonna change for Venezuelan citizens. Oil industry in Venezuela is Chinese, or for China,

by drtgh 9mo ago

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is in charge, so nothing is gonna change for Venezuelan citizens. Oil industry in Venezuela is Chinese, or for China, this is not gonna change either. What we are seeing here is a show, or may be also more related to Venezuela being a narco-state.

pqtyw 9mo ago
> Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is in charge Today. She's still part of the same regime and party. It's not obvious Trump will let her stay in charge. Also the control the government had over the criminal gangs/syndicates/cartels was seemingly very weak anyway. Even if the current decapitated regime is allowed to stay it won't be very strong.
- jacquesm 9mo ago
  > It's not obvious Trump will let her stay in charge. What's he going to do, kidnap her? Oh, wait.
  - ExoticPearTree 9mo ago
    Low level officials can be eliminated through missile strikes. If if had to guess, Maduro could have been take out with a GBU or two, but the US holds a grudge against him so they took him out to humiliate him, and send a message to others.
    - ethbr1 9mo ago
      There's a big international diplomacy difference between assassinating a leader and forcibly extraditing one on drug charges. Not too many countries will go to the mat to support a leader who was engaged in narcotics trafficking, if the US is able to present a viable case (which they seem to intend to, if he's being charged in US federal court).
      - DiogenesKynikos 9mo ago
        > forcibly extraditing Commonly known as "kidnapping." The US has no jurisdiction over Venezuela. This is pure mafia behavior by the US.
- CSMastermind 9mo ago
  The US has long recognized Edmundo González as the rightful president of the country following the 2024 election. I imagine they will try to install him. Alternatively there's María Corina Machado who overwhelmingly won the presidential primary for that election but wasn't allowed to run.
  - ch4s3 9mo ago
    It’s not just the US that recognizes González, the evidence was pretty clear that he won in a landslide.
    - aeyes 9mo ago
      But this is not the result of a free election, more promising candidates like Machado were not able to run: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-opposition-candidate-machado-barred-holding-office-govt-2023-06-30/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-opposition-... So you can't just install this person as president now.
      - ch4s3 9mo ago
        González ran in Machado's place.
- slim 9mo ago
  This is a coup and she is part of the conspiracy
- skippyboxedhero 9mo ago
  Some reports that she is already in Moscow. I am not sure what you mean by "control the government had"...they are the same thing. It is like the situation with IRA and Sinn Fein, this bizarre roleplay where people (for various reasons) went to massive effort to imply they were separate when it was obvious they were led by the same people. There is no distinction between the government and cartels...the assumption that there is makes no sense at all given the latitude they have to operate.
0xB31B1B 9mo ago
not quite The oil production there is completely decimated. They have huge reserves but production is low and falling because the regime doesn't do any maintenance or support of anything in the oil production and supply chain. It is very much the meme of "living in the ruins of a once great society".
- goatlover 9mo ago
  Sanctions had nothing to do with this?
  - selectodude 9mo ago
    Not really. VZ oil production peaked in 2012, long before the sanctions.
    - isr 9mo ago
      Completely dishonest answer. Sanctions decimated Venezuela's ability to maintain its oil infrastructure. Everything, from machined parts, to the various chemicals needed, everything, was affected. It just took a few years for the sanctions to bite, as the Venezuelans conserved & used stockpiles. Again, a completely dishonest take. Speaks volumes, when most defenders of todays criminality keep spouting arguments to this effect.
      - selectodude 9mo ago
        Venezuelan oil production was cratering years before the first oil sanctions because they replaced everybody who knew how to drill oil with loyalists. I didn’t realize this was debatable.
  - brohee 9mo ago
    Replacing all competent but ideologically unreliable people by reliable but incompetent people got more to it. See "Politicization" in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDVSA?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDVSA?wprov=sfla1
ErneX 9mo ago
I think the next in line is her brother, who is the president of the National Assembly (Congress).
r721 9mo ago
>Venezuela vice president Rodriguez in Russia, four sources say >Her brother, Jorge Rodriguez, the head of the national assembly, is in Caracas, three sources with knowledge of his whereabouts said. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-vice-president-rodriguez-russia-four-sources-say-2026-01-03/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-vice-presid...
- r721 9mo ago
  ^ Disputed by NYT: >While reports circulated that Ms. Rodríguez was in Russia at the time of the attacks, Ms. Rodríguez is in Caracas, according to three people close to her. Russian state media also denied reports that she was in Moscow. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/maduro-venezuela-strikes-delcy-rodriguez.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/maduro-ven...
smcl 9mo ago
> Venezuela being a narco-state. That is an insane take
- ethbr1 9mo ago
  Is it? I'm skeptical, as it seems to have that ring of circa-2003 WMD justification about it, but I won't dismiss it out of hat. And if the US intends to prosecute Maduro on drug crimes in SDNYC (good!), then they'll have to present evidence to the court, which presumably means they think they have a case. Personally, I doubt Maduro intentionally ran a narco-state as a primary focus. But I can very much see a sizable narcotics enterprise, with state support, being used as a key way for him to enrich select supporters absent a viable economy. Money to pay the generals has to come from somewhere...
  - jacquesm 9mo ago
    You can't credibly pardon one massive drug dealer and then go and kidnap the head of state of another country based on the same kind of thing. The lack of consistency alone should cause some serious headscratching.
    - ethbr1 9mo ago
      Headscratching is not an international consequence. "Right" rarely matters in geopolitics. What matters is who opposes a course of action, and how far they're willing to go in their opposition. Is China or the UK going to insist that former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández be prosecuted on drug crimes? If not, then the US is realpolitik free to do what it wants. Similarly with Maduro. Who's going to support him? And how far are they prepared to go?
    - saint_fiasco 9mo ago
      Maduro was offered some sort of limited amnesty and safe conduit before. Pardoning a different drug dealer can be a way to show Maduro that they were serious about the offer, that they really would have gone easy on him.
mapontosevenths 9mo ago
You may be wrong about the oil industry, Trumps already saying it in between the lies/pretense about drugs. "Trump says that the US is going to be "strongly involved" in Venezuela's oil industry moving forward." [0] [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt
- card_zero 9mo ago
  https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt?post=asset%3Aea9f1475-6c65-4930-8370-04be588ee845#post https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt?post=asset%3Aea9f... (Permalink, since it's on the second page of the live thread now.) This live format is kind of irritating. Here's another one: > He claims the oil business in Venezuela has been a "bust", and that large US companies are going to go into the country to fix the infrastructure and "start making money for the country" https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt?post=asset%3A27af8713-23c7-4fe6-befb-ca4be1b6f049#post https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt?post=asset%3A27af...
- drtgh 9mo ago
  Certainly I may be wrong. By the moment I just find it hard to believe that Taiwan has been traded for Venezuelan oil. I mention Taiwan because I think it is the only currency that could make the Chinese government give up those barrels of oil without retaliating.
  - jacquesm 9mo ago
    We'll know soon enough then.
  - terminalshort 9mo ago
    China isn't giving up any barrels of oil. It's a global market. If Venezuela is selling 5 million bbl per day to China, and it stops selling to China, someone else will start buying it. Since they are now buying 5 million bbl per day from Venezuela, that means they are buying 5 million bbl / day less from their existing suppliers. China will buy that oil.
pstuart 9mo ago
Venezuela is rich in mineral resources as well. Whatever it is the Trump admin is after, it's not democracy, it's some form of self-enrichment.
- actionfromafar 9mo ago
  Just a small reminder that we aren't talking about Epstein much today.
  - XorNot 9mo ago
    Although that doesn't seem like much of a solution though: the press will be bored of this by the end of the week and the only news that can come out is bad news.

by drtgh 9mo ago

pqtyw 9mo ago

> Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is in charge Today. She's still part of the same regime and party. It's not obvious Trump will let her stay in charge. Also the control the government had over the criminal gangs/syndicates/cartels was seemingly very weak anyway. Even if the current decapitated regime is allowed to stay it won't be very strong.

jacquesm 9mo ago
> It's not obvious Trump will let her stay in charge. What's he going to do, kidnap her? Oh, wait.
- ExoticPearTree 9mo ago
  Low level officials can be eliminated through missile strikes. If if had to guess, Maduro could have been take out with a GBU or two, but the US holds a grudge against him so they took him out to humiliate him, and send a message to others.
  - ethbr1 9mo ago
    There's a big international diplomacy difference between assassinating a leader and forcibly extraditing one on drug charges. Not too many countries will go to the mat to support a leader who was engaged in narcotics trafficking, if the US is able to present a viable case (which they seem to intend to, if he's being charged in US federal court).
    - DiogenesKynikos 9mo ago
      > forcibly extraditing Commonly known as "kidnapping." The US has no jurisdiction over Venezuela. This is pure mafia behavior by the US.
CSMastermind 9mo ago
The US has long recognized Edmundo González as the rightful president of the country following the 2024 election. I imagine they will try to install him. Alternatively there's María Corina Machado who overwhelmingly won the presidential primary for that election but wasn't allowed to run.
- ch4s3 9mo ago
  It’s not just the US that recognizes González, the evidence was pretty clear that he won in a landslide.
  - aeyes 9mo ago
    But this is not the result of a free election, more promising candidates like Machado were not able to run: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-opposition-candidate-machado-barred-holding-office-govt-2023-06-30/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-opposition-... So you can't just install this person as president now.
    - ch4s3 9mo ago
      González ran in Machado's place.
slim 9mo ago
This is a coup and she is part of the conspiracy
skippyboxedhero 9mo ago
Some reports that she is already in Moscow. I am not sure what you mean by "control the government had"...they are the same thing. It is like the situation with IRA and Sinn Fein, this bizarre roleplay where people (for various reasons) went to massive effort to imply they were separate when it was obvious they were led by the same people. There is no distinction between the government and cartels...the assumption that there is makes no sense at all given the latitude they have to operate.

0xB31B1B 9mo ago

not quite The oil production there is completely decimated. They have huge reserves but production is low and falling because the regime doesn't do any maintenance or support of anything in the oil production and supply chain. It is very much the meme of "living in the ruins of a once great society".

goatlover 9mo ago
Sanctions had nothing to do with this?
- selectodude 9mo ago
  Not really. VZ oil production peaked in 2012, long before the sanctions.
  - isr 9mo ago
    Completely dishonest answer. Sanctions decimated Venezuela's ability to maintain its oil infrastructure. Everything, from machined parts, to the various chemicals needed, everything, was affected. It just took a few years for the sanctions to bite, as the Venezuelans conserved & used stockpiles. Again, a completely dishonest take. Speaks volumes, when most defenders of todays criminality keep spouting arguments to this effect.
    - selectodude 9mo ago
      Venezuelan oil production was cratering years before the first oil sanctions because they replaced everybody who knew how to drill oil with loyalists. I didn’t realize this was debatable.
- brohee 9mo ago
  Replacing all competent but ideologically unreliable people by reliable but incompetent people got more to it. See "Politicization" in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDVSA?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDVSA?wprov=sfla1

ErneX 9mo ago

I think the next in line is her brother, who is the president of the National Assembly (Congress).

r721 9mo ago

>Venezuela vice president Rodriguez in Russia, four sources say >Her brother, Jorge Rodriguez, the head of the national assembly, is in Caracas, three sources with knowledge of his whereabouts said. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-vice-president-rodriguez-russia-four-sources-say-2026-01-03/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-vice-presid...

r721 9mo ago
^ Disputed by NYT: >While reports circulated that Ms. Rodríguez was in Russia at the time of the attacks, Ms. Rodríguez is in Caracas, according to three people close to her. Russian state media also denied reports that she was in Moscow. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/maduro-venezuela-strikes-delcy-rodriguez.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/maduro-ven...

smcl 9mo ago

> Venezuela being a narco-state. That is an insane take

ethbr1 9mo ago
Is it? I'm skeptical, as it seems to have that ring of circa-2003 WMD justification about it, but I won't dismiss it out of hat. And if the US intends to prosecute Maduro on drug crimes in SDNYC (good!), then they'll have to present evidence to the court, which presumably means they think they have a case. Personally, I doubt Maduro intentionally ran a narco-state as a primary focus. But I can very much see a sizable narcotics enterprise, with state support, being used as a key way for him to enrich select supporters absent a viable economy. Money to pay the generals has to come from somewhere...
- jacquesm 9mo ago
  You can't credibly pardon one massive drug dealer and then go and kidnap the head of state of another country based on the same kind of thing. The lack of consistency alone should cause some serious headscratching.
  - ethbr1 9mo ago
    Headscratching is not an international consequence. "Right" rarely matters in geopolitics. What matters is who opposes a course of action, and how far they're willing to go in their opposition. Is China or the UK going to insist that former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández be prosecuted on drug crimes? If not, then the US is realpolitik free to do what it wants. Similarly with Maduro. Who's going to support him? And how far are they prepared to go?
  - saint_fiasco 9mo ago
    Maduro was offered some sort of limited amnesty and safe conduit before. Pardoning a different drug dealer can be a way to show Maduro that they were serious about the offer, that they really would have gone easy on him.

mapontosevenths 9mo ago

You may be wrong about the oil industry, Trumps already saying it in between the lies/pretense about drugs. "Trump says that the US is going to be "strongly involved" in Venezuela's oil industry moving forward." [0] [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt

card_zero 9mo ago
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt?post=asset%3Aea9f1475-6c65-4930-8370-04be588ee845#post https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt?post=asset%3Aea9f... (Permalink, since it's on the second page of the live thread now.) This live format is kind of irritating. Here's another one: > He claims the oil business in Venezuela has been a "bust", and that large US companies are going to go into the country to fix the infrastructure and "start making money for the country" https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt?post=asset%3A27af8713-23c7-4fe6-befb-ca4be1b6f049#post https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt?post=asset%3A27af...
drtgh 9mo ago
Certainly I may be wrong. By the moment I just find it hard to believe that Taiwan has been traded for Venezuelan oil. I mention Taiwan because I think it is the only currency that could make the Chinese government give up those barrels of oil without retaliating.
- jacquesm 9mo ago
  We'll know soon enough then.
- terminalshort 9mo ago
  China isn't giving up any barrels of oil. It's a global market. If Venezuela is selling 5 million bbl per day to China, and it stops selling to China, someone else will start buying it. Since they are now buying 5 million bbl per day from Venezuela, that means they are buying 5 million bbl / day less from their existing suppliers. China will buy that oil.

pstuart 9mo ago

Venezuela is rich in mineral resources as well. Whatever it is the Trump admin is after, it's not democracy, it's some form of self-enrichment.

actionfromafar 9mo ago
Just a small reminder that we aren't talking about Epstein much today.
- XorNot 9mo ago
  Although that doesn't seem like much of a solution though: the press will be bored of this by the end of the week and the only news that can come out is bad news.