Nicolás Madurois still the legitimate leader ofVenezuela, the country's acting president said in an exclusive interview with NBC News.
"I can tell you President Nicolás Maduro is the legitimate president. I will tell you this as a lawyer, that I am. Both President Maduro and Cilia Flores, the first lady, are both innocent,"acting President Delcy Rodrígueztold NBC News' "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welkerin Caracas, in her first interview with an American journalist since taking office.
As her predecessor sits in a federal detention facility in New York after being captured by U.S. forces last month, Rodríguez is now seemingly being welcomed back into the diplomatic fold by PresidentDonald Trump. A high-profile visit Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright came as the two countries hammered out details of how Venezuela's vast oil reserves are to be distributed.
She added, "I can tell you I am in charge of the presidency of Venezuela, as it's stated clearly in the constitution of Venezuela. And from the amount of work that I have, from how busy I am, I can tell you it's very, very hard work and we're doing it completely day by day."
The daughter of a revolutionary andsanctioned by the first Trump administration,Rodríguez'spath to power has not been conventional.
In the days following Maduro's capture on Jan. 3,Rodríguezwas highly critical of the U.S. military action against him. She has since softened her tone and relented to U.S. pressure and demands, raising the possibility of a visit to the U.S. after two phone calls with Trump.
"I have been invited to the States," Rodríguez told NBC News, adding that "we're contemplating coming there once we establish this cooperation and we can move forward with everything."
Still, the current government has not entirely shed the authoritarian ways of Maduro or his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chávez, who largely established the infrastructure of the current security state in Venezuela.
After being released from prison on Sunday, prominent opposition figure Juan Pablo Guanipawas rearrestedand is currently under house arrest, according toa post on Xby his son Ramon Guanipa.
"Ronald Reagan, trust but verify. Trust but verify. We've been dealing with Delcy for five weeks now. It's been an amazing cooperation," Secretary Wright told Welker in an exclusive interview in Caracas on Wednesday.
"She's delivered information. Everything we know so far has turned out to be true. She's made enormous positive changes, including already changing the hydrocarbon law in the country in the first few weeks. So I would say that cooperation is off to a tremendous start."
There has been over $1 billion in Venezuelan oil sold and another $5 billion in oil sales are expected in the coming months, Wright told NBC News.
"So the Venezuelans are in charge here in Venezuela, but the United States has enormous leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela — the largest revenue source that funds the government, that funds the government of Venezuela is now controlled by the United States," Wright said.
"If they're driving positive change that benefits Americans and is improving the life opportunities of people in Venezuela, that money will flow. If they steer off that path, we have just simply tremendous leverage."
Dozens ofpolitical prisoners have been releasedin recent weeks and political space within the country has opened up to the point where a protest demanding the release of more prisoners was held last week in front of the country's highest court, an act that only months ago could have resulted in arrest, jail time or worse.
The bigger question is when, or even if, María Corina Machado, Venezuela's most prominent opposition activist, can safely return to the country. Despitegifting her Nobel Peace Prize medalto Trump during a White House visit last month, Machado has yet to be fully embraced by the president as a serious political contender in Venezuela.
"With regards to her life, we do not understand why there's such a fuss about it," Rodríguez told NBC News. "With regards to her coming back to the country, she will have to answer to Venezuela. Why she called upon a military intervention, why she called upon sanctions to Venezuela, and why she celebrated the actions that took place at the beginning of January."
