Nicolás Maduro’s recent arrest has prompted a leadership shift in Venezuela, but concerns are mounting over the choice of interim leader. A former Venezuelan official has expressed worry, pointing out that the new leader represents a continuation of the existing regime. The official described Delcy Rodríguez, who has stepped into the role, as someone who “harbors animosity toward the West.”

The appointment of Rodríguez, according to the source, highlights the Venezuelan leadership’s reliance on a close-knit group of Maduro loyalists, rather than introducing fresh faces. This approach, the source noted, contributes to what they termed “the axis of evil,” posing a geopolitical challenge just a few hours away from Miami.

Rodríguez, who previously served as Venezuela’s vice president and oil minister, assumed her new position on Monday following Maduro’s ousting. Maduro now faces legal proceedings in a New York court on drug trafficking accusations.

“Despite the change in leadership, the regime remains unchanged, and she has a clear disdain for the West,” the official shared with Fox News Digital, choosing to remain anonymous.

Venezuela’s Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez, spoke to the media in Caracas on March 10, 2025. (Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters)

“Delcy has evolved from a mediocre lawyer, and now she’s the president of one of the richest nations in Latin America,” the source said.

“She has probably been in every post, because they rotate the same people because they don’t have anybody else that they trust.

‘Delcy is a very close and trustworthy person for Maduro and was also the same for Chávez.”

President Donald Trump said Saturday that Rodríguez, 56, stood “willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”

Rodríguez, who has served as foreign minister, president of the Constituent Assembly, vice president, and oil minister, was sworn in by her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, the head of the National Assembly.

Born in Caracas, Rodríguez is the daughter of Marxist guerrilla leader Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, a co-founder of the Socialist League.

He was arrested in connection with the 1976 kidnapping of American businessman William F. Niehous and later died in police custody, according to the New York Times.

“That ordeal is the foundation and the origin of Delcy’s hatred of the West and of democracy,” the source said, before claiming, “her whole background was Marxist.”

A side-by-side photo of President Donald Trump and Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez. (Joe Raedle/Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

“The guerrilla Marxist element kidnapped an American executive in 1976 and he was held for three years until authorities located the group hiding in the Amazon jungle,” the source said.

Rodríguez’s tenure as foreign minister was also marked by controversy, the source claimed, including allegations that Venezuelan passports, birth certificates, and nationalities were illegally sold abroad, according to reports.

At the 2016 United Nations General Assembly, Rodríguez said the allegations were untrue.

“There were some passports being sold in Iraq, and they were giving birth certificates to terrorists,” the source said.

In 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Rodríguez, citing her role as a senior official in the Maduro government. Those sanctions remain in place.

She was also said to have been implicated in the so-called “Delcygate” scandal in 2020 after allegedly making a secret stop in Spain despite sanctions on her, as reported by Spanish media. 

Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez leaves Argentina’s Foreign Ministry in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016. Mercosur Foreign Ministers from Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina met for a Mercosur Foreign Ministers summit in Buenos Aires Wednesday. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

Reports alleged she was transporting gold into Europe, a claim Rodríguez has denied.

“She had 40 bags full of gold in a private jet as vice president,” the source alleged. “They put the bags through the X-ray, and they found the gold.” 

“Venezuela has become an occupied territory by Iran, China, Russia, and Cuba,” the source added, citing armed groups including FARC and ELN controlling large parts of the country.

“Delcy is the interim, but all of these groups are part of the cohort from Chávez that came from communist mindsets against the West that she came from.”

“We now see the axis of evil in a geopolitical struggle three hours from Miami,” the source added.

“There are atrocity crimes committed by all of this group, plus there’s kleptocracy and grand corruption, which are all still in place,” the source said.