Related videos:
Marco Rubio effectively controls Venezuela's finances, the distribution of its natural resources, and the decisions of its government, without having set foot in the country since U.S. special forces captured Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, according to an extensive investigation by The New York Times published this Saturday, based on interviews with more than a dozen officials from both governments.
The report describes the Secretary of State as the "de facto viceroy" of Venezuela, wielding a level of control over a sovereign nation not seen since L. Paul Bremer III arrived in Baghdad in 2003 to administer the U.S.-occupied Iraq.
The central mechanism of this dominance is financial: the U.S. Treasury receives the revenues from the majority of Venezuelan exports and gradually disburses them to the country through private banks, in a relationship that the newspaper itself compares to “parents giving allowances to children.”
Rubio and his team set the conditions on how that money can be spent and who can receive it.
The interim president Delcy Rodríguez, former vice president to Maduro, relies on these funds to pay salaries and support the national currency.
Rubio also oversees the sanctions, decides which companies can operate in the country, and has prioritized the entry of American companies over the European ones that were already operating there.
The control extends to foreign policy and even to social media. When the Venezuelan chancellor Yvan Gil published a statement condemning the U.S. attack on Iran, the Trump administration ordered that the message be removed. Gil deleted it hours later, in what the NYT describes as "an admission that Venezuela no longer sets its foreign policy."
Rodríguez even submits her draft publications for Rubio's approval before sharing them, and when the Fox News network contacted her for an interview, she replied that Trump would have to approve it first.
The relationship between Rubio and Rodríguez began in the early hours of January 3, when the Secretary of State called her and presented a dilemma: cooperate with the U.S. or face attacks on infrastructure, military bases, and high-ranking Venezuelan officials. Rodríguez agreed.
Since then, they both communicate in Spanish via WhatsApp, exchanging messages, birthday greetings, and photographs.
Trump declared that the U.S. will "govern Venezuela" until there is a "safe, appropriate, and judicious" transition of power, and days after Maduro's capture, he told the NYT that he expected this oversight to last for years.
In the Oval Office, the president jokingly suggested sending Rubio permanently to Caracas as his next leader.
The earthquakes of June 24, which resulted in more than 3,800 deaths, complicated Rubio's three-phase plan: to recover the economy, stabilize the country, and transition to democracy.
The U.S. sent 900 soldiers, committed nearly 400 million dollars in aid, and delivered cash directly to the Venezuelan government. "It’s a setback in that regard," acknowledged Rubio himself.
The collaboration also has a security dimension: in June, U.S. forces used intelligence provided by Rodríguez's government to kill Niño Guerrero, one of the leaders of the Tren de Aragua, in a missile attack in the south of Venezuela, marking the first joint military operation between the two countries in decades.
The political future remains undefined. María Corina Machado, the country's most popular opposition leader, has been sidelined by Rubio for fear of destabilizing the military and security apparatus.
When the NYT asked Rodríguez in May when he would call for elections, he replied, "I don't know. At some point." The report concludes that the decision is not in his hands but in Rubio's.
Filed under: