TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez, who is known simply as Delcy in Venezuela, was once asked why she decided to study law at the Central University of Venezuela after finishing school.
Her answer: "I made this decision to achieve justice for my father!"
In a way, the 56-year-old lawyer, political hardliner and "tigress," as Nicolas Maduro once admiringly called her, has succeeded: The daughter of former Marxist guerrilla Jorge Antonio Rodriguez is now Venezuela's interim president and thus the most powerful person in the country.
Her father was the mastermind behind the kidnapping of U.S. businessman William Niehous. After Rodriguez's arrest in 1976, he was tortured to death by the notorious Venezuelan secret service DISIP. Delcy Rodriguez was seven years old at the time.
Her father's death shocked the public. He became a martyr for the left and later for President Hugo Chavez's movement. Delcy and her brother Jorge, now president of Venezuela's National Assembly, have repeatedly stated that their rapid rise was also driven by "personal revenge" for their father.
Chavez paved the way, Maduro led her to the top
Rodriguez's picture-perfect career first took her to France and the UK, where she specialized in labor law. Back home, a man set out to turn Venezuelan politics upside down: Hugo Chavez, a former lieutenant colonel, won the 1998 presidential election and inspired the population with his idea of a more just "socialism of the 21st century."
Chavez appreciated the young woman, who climbed the career ladder under his leadership: director of international affairs in the Ministry of Energy and Mining, then deputy minister for relations with Europe, and finally head of the presidential office.
Chavez died of cancer in 2013, but his successor, Nicolas Maduro, also recognized Rodriguez's value. She initially was minister of communication and information. In 2014, Maduro made her Venezuela's first female foreign minister and the mouthpiece for verbal attacks against the U.S.
Two years later, she caused a major scandal in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires: Although Venezuela is excluded from the South American confederation Mercosur, she tried to gain access to the summit without an invitation.
But it didn't harm her career. In 2017, she became president of the Constituent Assembly. In this role, she stripped the elected parliament of its powers, cemented Maduro's power, and finally paved the way for an authoritarian system. A year later, she became vice president, and since 2020, she has also been minister of economy, finance, and oil, as well as director of the Venezuelan Central Bank.
2020 was also the year in which Rodriguez made international headlines with a scandal known as "Delcygate."
'Delcygate' illegal meeting in Madrid despite entry ban
In January 2020, Rodriguez landed at Madrid airport in a private plane to meet with Spanish Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos for a few hours even though she is one of 25 people in the Maduro regime who are banned from entering the Schengen area by the European Union for human rights violations and the dismantling of democracy in Venezuela. This is a recurring pattern in Rodriguez's life, which is also evident these days: She lets nothing and no one stop her, even if it means simply ignoring the rules of the game.
This fits in with the speculation that began in October 2025 with an article in the Miami Herald: According to the report, Rodriguez, together with her brother Jorge and influential Venezuelan officials, proposed to the U.S. that she lead a transitional government without Maduro in order to ensure the country's political stability. Rodriguez has always denied these allegations, describing them as lies and misinformation.
'Struggle until victory'
Almost exactly half a century ago, on July 28, 1976, Jorge Antonio Rodriguez was buried in the General del Sur cemetery in Caracas.
His companions shouted at the grave: "Socialism will be achieved through struggle, through struggle until victory, because the organized people will seize power!"
Whatever remains of the socialist idea in Venezuela, 50 years later, his daughter is the one who has seized power in Venezuela.
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