Overview
- Multiple sources say the Trump administration engaged Cabello months before the Jan. 3 operation and kept channels open afterward, using both direct talks and intermediaries.
- U.S. officials warned Cabello not to mobilize intelligence services, police or allied armed groups, viewing him as capable of sowing chaos or undercutting Delcy Rodríguez.
- Cabello remains under U.S. sanctions and a 2020 Justice Department narcotics indictment with a posted reward, yet he was not detained during the raid that seized Nicolás Maduro.
- Venezuela’s security apparatus largely remains intact after the operation, though local reports describe fewer checkpoints in recent days.
- The government says Cabello is reviewing political prisoner cases, but rights groups report slow releases and continuing arbitrary detentions, and neither Washington nor Caracas has publicly commented on the reported contacts.