Venezuela’s new leader calls for opening oil industry to foreign
investment and warmer US ties
[January 16, 2026]
By REGINA GARCIA CANO
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez
used her first state of the union message Thursday to advocate for
opening the crucial state-run oil industry to more foreign investment
following the Trump administration's pledge to seize control of
Venezuelan crude sales.
For the first time, Rodríguez laid out a vision for Venezuela’s new
political reality — one that challenges her government’s most deeply
rooted beliefs less than two weeks after the United States captured and
toppled former President Nicolás Maduro.
Under pressure from the U.S. to cooperate with its plans for reshaping
Venezuela’s sanctioned oil industry, Maduro's former vice president
declared that a “new policy is being formed in Venezuela."
She urged the foreign diplomats in attendance to tell investors abroad
about the changes and called on lawmakers to approve oil sector reforms
that would secure foreign firms' access to Venezuela’s vast reserves.
“Venezuela, in free trade relations with the world, can sell the
products of its energy industry,” she said.
The Trump administration has said it plans to control future oil export
revenues to ensure it benefits the Venezuelan people.
In that vein, Rodríguez described cash from the oil sales flowing into
two sovereign wealth funds, one to support crisis-stricken health
services and another to bolster public infrastructure, much of which was
built under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, and has since
deteriorated.
These days the country's hospitals are so poorly equipped that patients
are asked to provide supplies needed for their care, from syringes to
surgical screws.
While Rodríguez criticized the U.S. capture of Maduro and referred to a
“stain on our relations," she also promoted the resumption of diplomacy
between the historic adversaries. Her succinct, 44-minute speech and
mollifying tone marked a dramatic contrast to her predecessors' fiery
rants against U.S. imperialism that often went on for hours.
“Let us not be afraid of diplomacy,” Rodriguez. “I ask that politics not
be transformed, that it not begin with hatred and intolerance.”
The day before, she gave a 4-minute briefing to the media to say her
government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro's
harsh rule. But human rights groups have verified just a fraction of the
releases that she claimed took place.
Rodríguez appears to be threading a needle.
A portrait of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, was displayed next to
her as she spoke. She called for the U.S. government to "respect the
dignity" of Maduro, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail after pleading
not guilty to drug-trafficking charges. She portrayed herself as
defending Venezuela's sovereignty even as the country warmed up to the
U.S. with dizzying speed.
“If one day, as acting president, I have to go to Washington, I will do
so standing up, walking, not being dragged," she said. "I'll go standing
tall ... never crawling.”
Rodríguez delivered her speech as Venezuela's Nobel Prize-winning
opposition leader María Corina Machado was the one in Washington to meet
President Donald Trump.
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Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez delivers her first
state of the union address at the National Assembly in Caracas,
Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Since Maduro's ouster, Trump has frozen Machado out of discussions
about the nation's political fate while embracing Rodríguez,
praising Maduro’s long-time loyalist as a “terrific person” after
holding his first known phone call with her on Wednesday.
Machado, whose party is considered to have won the tumultuous 2024
presidential elections despite Maduro's claims of victory, said she
presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump during their
closed-door conversation.
Emerging from the White House afterward, she greeted dozens of
cheering supporters. "We can count on President Trump,” she told
them, without elaborating.
Her role in Venezuelan politics remains uncertain as Rodríguez’s
government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections
for the foreseeable future.
Machado’s meeting with Trump received no coverage in Venezuela.
The country's state-run TV still pumps out a steady stream of
pro-government images, including various statements from Iranian and
Russian officials decrying “U.S. aggression" and wall-to-wall
coverage of state-orchestrated rallies demanding Maduro's return.
Crowds of teachers on Thursday marched through the streets of
Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, carrying posters condemning the U.S.
for “kidnapping” Maduro and chanting slogans in support of the
government. National police wearing riot gear were everywhere.
Pro-government graffiti scrawled across city walls read: “To doubt
is to betray."
“They've kept the same anti-imperialist rhetoric going, but more
moderated," said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane
University who has studied Venezuela for 30 years. “Their idea is to
give Trump everything he wants economically, but stay the course
politically."
On the streets of central Caracas, most Venezuelans going about
their days declined to be interviewed about their opinions, fearful
of government reprisals as Maduro's security apparatus remains
intact. Others were simply at a loss of what to say about their
country's strange new reality in which the U.S. claims to call the
shots.
“It’s a complete sea of uncertainty, and the only one who now has
the power to make decisions is the United States government,” said
Pablo Rojas, 28, a music producer.
He said he was following Trump's meeting with Machado closely "to
see if she takes a leadership position, if they consider her ready
to lead the country or be a candidate." He shook his head in
puzzlement. “It’s impossible to know what will happen.”
___
Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
and Megan Janetsky in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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