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Delcy Rodríguez

Delcy Rodríguez

-100

Net harmfulFormula-derived score

The through-line is Maduro-system enforcement: OFAC SDN 25 September 2018, a TSJ encargada oath that kept Maduro as legal president, and a 1 April 2026 U.S. personal-sanctions lift that recognised that continuity. A living ruler is scored on those instruments, not as a separate democrat. The largest negative contribution to the formula-derived score is “Delcy Rodríguez is sworn acting president under a TSJ temporary-absence order” (2026).

Top harm

Delcy Rodríguez is sworn acting president under a TSJ temporary-absence order

−149 pts

PSUV Maduro-system vice-presidencyoil-sanctions diplomacyTSJ encargada continuity treated as compatible with a first-woman sash

Impact

Biggest harms and offsets: signed contributions to the formula-derived score, ranked by size.

Biggest harms

Lowers the score
Editorial assessment (context, not the score)

The heaviest documented costs sit on Maduro-system continuity after 3 January 2026, not on a personality adjective.

First, designation. On 25 September 2018 OFAC added Delcy Rodríguez to the SDN list as part of Maduro’s inner circle, recording the 14 June 2018 vice-presidency in the same Treasury release (Treasury sm495 (opens in a new tab)). That is a completed U.S.

Second, encargada. On 3 January 2026 U.S. forces captured Maduro. The TSJ Constitutional Chamber ordered her to assume as encargada because the absence was temporary, avoiding an absolute vacancy and a speedy election. She was sworn on 5 January 2026 (Reuters (opens in a new tab)). Nicolás Maduro remains the live counterpart.

Third, recognition. On 1 April 2026 the United States lifted her personal sanctions (AP (opens in a new tab)). AP recorded that as recognition of her authority. She remained acting president past the original 90-day clock. Quote the lift.

Confidence is high on Treasury, TSJ, Reuters, and AP locators, and medium where oil-licence talk is asked to replace the temporary-absence construction. This paragraph is an assessment of those paths, not a substitute number.

Indicators affected

Sorted by the size of this person’s signed contribution. The observed state is the indicator’s own reading, not this person’s doing.

Accountability & contradictions

Claims against the record, the type of responsibility, and what is disputed.

Responsibility

What could change this assessment

  • Lifetime coverage has not been assessed: the record reflects stored facts only (2018–2026).

Causal path

Person → Fact → Driver → Indicator. Select a path to inspect its factors; the full network opens on demand.

  1. PersonDelcy Rodríguez
  2. FactDelcy Rodríguez is sworn acting president under a TSJ temporary-absence order
  3. DriverDelcy Maduro-system enforcer and encargada continuity
  4. IndicatorVoice and Accountability Gap from the Highest Governance Score
−149 pts

Contribution size 1 · Responsibility 0.5 · Fact impact 1 · Driver weight 1 · Driver → indicator −0.56 · Indicator importance 0.8 · Deviation factor −3 · Confidence 1

  1. PersonDelcy Rodríguez
  2. FactUnited States lifts personal OFAC sanctions on acting president Delcy Rodríguez
  3. DriverDelcy Maduro-system enforcer and encargada continuity
  4. IndicatorVoice and Accountability Gap from the Highest Governance Score
−73 pts

Contribution size 1 · Responsibility 0.5 · Fact impact 1 · Driver weight 1 · Driver → indicator −0.56 · Indicator importance 0.8 · Deviation factor −3 · Confidence 1

Timeline

The most relevant dated facts, newest first.

  1. 1 April 2026 · Delcy Maduro-system enforcer and encargada continuity

    United States lifts personal OFAC sanctions on acting president Delcy Rodríguez
    −73 pts

  2. 5 January 2026 · Delcy Maduro-system enforcer and encargada continuity

    Delcy Rodríguez is sworn acting president under a TSJ temporary-absence order
    −149 pts

  3. 25 September 2018 · Delcy Maduro-system enforcer and encargada continuity

    OFAC designates Delcy Rodríguez as Maduro inner-circle SDN

Evidence & methodology

How the record is sourced and how the score is derived.

3 of 3 linked facts verified, drawing on 3 distinct sources (2018–2026).

Sources include Office of Foreign Assets Control, Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Sources

  1. 1.OFAC recent actions — personal SDN removal of acting president Delcy Rodríguez, 1 April 2026 neighbourhoodOffice of Foreign Assets Control
  2. 2.TSJ — ordena a Delcy Rodríguez asumir el cargo de Presidenta (E)Tribunal Supremo de Justicia
  3. 3.Treasury — Targets Venezuelan President Maduro’s Inner Circle (25 September 2018)U.S. Department of the Treasury

The score is formula-derived (Factrail formula v1, version 1.0.0), not an editorial verdict. Read the methodology.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed · Sources: 3

Expert analysis

An excerpt; the full analysis opens on request.

Identity and office

Delcy Rodríguez has been acting president of Venezuela since 5 January 2026 and was executive vice-president from 14 June 2018. As of September 2026 she is a living acting president. Nicolás Maduro is the live captured president. This run does not mint a cleaner twin.

She is not a separate democrat. On 25 September 2018 the U.S. Treasury designated her under E.O. 13692 with Cilia Flores, Vladimir Padrino López, and Jorge Rodríguez, stating that Maduro had given her and her brother senior positions to maintain power (Treasury (opens in a new tab)). OFAC’s same-day SDN update listed RODRIGUEZ GOMEZ, Delcy Eloina, DOB 18 May 1969.

On 3 January 2026 U.S. forces captured Maduro and Cilia Flores in Caracas. The TSJ Constitutional Chamber, sentencia N° 0001-2026, ordered Rodríguez to assume and exercise as encargada all presidential faculties to guarantee administrative continuity, and treated the absence as temporary rather than an absolute vacancy (TSJ (opens in a new tab); Reuters (opens in a new tab)). She was sworn on 5 January 2026 by her brother Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly. He remains unresolved. A first woman to exercise the presidency is identity. It does not rebate the temporary-absence construction.

On 1 April 2026 OFAC lifted her personal sanctions. AP recorded that Washington was recognising her as a legitimate authority after the 3 January operation, and that the original 90-day TSJ window was ending that week (AP (opens in a new tab)). She remained acting president past that clock. Quote the lift.

Diosdado Cabello’s 27 August 2024 interior appointment and later Operation Knock Knock sit as a neighbouring repression file. This run names him.

Documented benefits

The offsets that a commissioned-positive portrait would lead with are real only where dated. A 1 April 2026 personal-sanctions lift is a completed OFAC act. Oil-licence talk with Washington is neighbouring diplomacy. Neither converts the 2018 inner-circle designation into a democratisation certificate, and neither is a unique later popular mandate.

Contributions and limits of responsibility

Maduro named her vice-president. TSJ ordered the encargada. Jorge Rodríguez administered the oath. OFAC listed and later delisted. She took the 2018 office and the 2026 oath. Sharing a U.S. capture as parent is not a reason to drop the temporary-absence construction. Sharing a Trump counterpart is not a reason to hang a U.S. statute as her authorship.

Causal chain through facts

25 September 2018 strengthens delcy-maduro-system-enforcer as a completed inner-circle designation. 5 January 2026 weakens electoral integrity and capacity for peaceful transfer as an encargada oath without an election. 1 April 2026 strengthens the same enforcer file as recognition of that continuity. None hang on territorial-revisionism, ukraine-war, or Soviet-scope rows.

What the score does not say

This page does not promise an exact number. Direction is negative: 2018 SDN, 2026 encargada without election, remaining past 90 days. Diosdado Cabello and Jorge Rodríguez remain names on this file, not invented biographies.

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