CIA Director Ratcliffe Meets Interim Leader Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas in High-Level U.S. Outreach

Overview

• John Ratcliffe met Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas on Jan. 15 at President Donald Trump’s direction to discuss intelligence cooperation, economic stability, and halting Venezuela’s role as a haven for U.S. adversaries, especially narcotraffickers.
• Ratcliffe is the first Trump cabinet member to visit Venezuela since U.S. forces detained Nicolás Maduro, and the trip followed a phone call between Trump and Rodríguez.
• On the same day, Trump hosted opposition leader María Corina Machado at the White House, a dual-track engagement that U.S. officials cast as support for short-term stability under the interim government.
• Reporting notes the CIA helped plan the operation that led to Maduro’s capture and had assessed Rodríguez as a pragmatic interlocutor willing to work with the United States.
• Rodríguez is moving to reopen international ties and attract investment, naming Félix Plasencia as envoy to the U.S. and Jorge Calixto Ortega Sánchez to oversee the economy, while limited prisoner releases continue alongside new arrests.