Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez appeared in late January to play a double game of talking tough at an overbearing United States while collaborating in private, as the United States pressured her government to serve U.S. commercial and diplomatic interests. The Trump administration briefly bombed Venezuela before arresting its president, Nicolás Maduro, in early January, and was now insisting Rodríguez was being collaborative as interim leader. Yet several times she has declared it was her government not the United States, that was running Venezuela. On 25 January, she told a gathering in Caracas that only domestic politics "with a capital P" could resolve differences between Venezuelans, so "that's enough orders from Washington." Days before, she urged a national dialogue but "without foreign orders," according to the broadcaster NTN24. Observers separately told CNN on 27 January that such talk targeted a domestic audience, as Rodríguez was "walking a tight rope" between Washington and regime hardliners. The reaction from U.S. President Donald J. Trump was that he hadn't heard her comments. Reuters news agency reported that day on the skepticism of U.S. intelligence over the Rodríguez presidency's readiness to serve U.S. interests, notably in thwarting powers like China, Islamic Iran and Russia.
