Former Venezuelan General Says Delcy Rodríguez and Brother Have Consolidated Power as 'True Architects of the Dictatorial Regime'

A retired Venezuelan general serving a prison sentence in the United States says interim leader Delcy Rodríguez and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, consolidated power inside Venezuela years before the capture of Nicolás Maduro, acting as what he called "the true architects of the Venezuelan dictatorial regime."

In written responses sent through his lawyer to the Miami Herald, Cliver Alcalá Cordones, a former major general who broke with the government and later pleaded guilty in the U.S. to charges related to collaboration with Colombia's FARC guerilla, said the balance of power shifted in March 2023 after the sudden disappearance of Tareck El Aissami, once the regime's top power broker.

El Aissami, sanctioned by the U.S. in 2017 for alleged narcotics trafficking, fell from grace amid corruption accusations and vanished from public view, leaving a vacuum that Alcalá says Delcy Rodríguez moved quickly to fill.

"That picture clearly shows us who holds the real power in Venezuela," Alcalá told The Miami Herald, referring to images of Jorge Rodríguez being re-elected head of the National Assembly and swearing in his sister as acting president after Maduro's capture by U.S. forces earlier this month.

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Alcalá argued that the government ceased functioning as a conventional state more than a decade ago, operating instead as what he described as "a true criminal organization with multiple activities," including drug trafficking, illegal mining and money laundering. He said those activities were central revenue streams, not isolated corruption, and alleged that the Rodríguez siblings became administrators of networks previously overseen by El Aissami.

Alcalá, who once served at senior levels of the military hierarchy, says the cartel evolved "since Maduro took power"and pointed to the fact that "the Rodríguez brothers were the most intelligent. They remained in the shadows but operated like puppeteers."

Those claims align with U.S. intelligence assessments and investigative reporting suggesting that power had shifted away from Maduro toward a tightly controlled inner circle before his removal. U.S. officials believe narcotics trafficking helped offset oil revenue losses after sanctions were imposed on Venezuela's state oil company in 2019.

Since Maduro's capture, Delcy Rodríguez has emerged as Washington's primary interlocutor in a volatile transition. U.S. intelligence officials, cited by The New York Times, have described her as pragmatic and capable of engaging with U.S. officials to preserve stability.

Despite that engagement, Rodríguez has long been under U.S. scrutiny. The Associated Press has reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration designated her a "priority target" in 2022, though she has never been charged. Opposition leader María Corina Machado has said U.S. authorities "have sufficient information about her," even as Washington weighs stability against democratic change.

Alcalá said Maduro was never the sole decision-maker. "The fundamental decisions were not made by Maduro," he wrote. "It was a task shared by the leadership of the regime, in which the Rodríguez siblings were a part."

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