Trump administration notifies US Justice Department of official recognition of Delcy Rodríguez

Washington.- The United States Department of State notified the New York court, which is handling the case against Nicolás Maduro, that it formally recognized the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, as the head of state of that country.

The State Department’s point person for Latin America, Michael Kozak, sent a letter to prosecutor Jay Clayton asking him to inform the court that “the United States recognizes Delcy Rodríguez as the sole head of state, capable of acting on behalf of Venezuela.”

Last Saturday, US President Donald Trump announced that he had formally recognized the Rodriguez government, days after the United States and Venezuela restored diplomatic relations, broken since 2019.

This recognition weakens Maduro’s position, captured by US forces on January 3 in Caracas, since in the trial he faces in New York for alleged drug trafficking he has presented his defense as president of Venezuela and has requested that it be financed with funds from the Venezuelan State.

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U.S. emphasizes that it never recognized Maduro

In the letter, Kozak clarified that the United States does not recognize Maduro as head of state since January 23, 2019 and that “that lack of recognition continues to the present.” “Maduro is an accused narcoterrorist awaiting trial in a U.S. federal court for his crimes,” he emphasized. Kozak pointed out that on March 5th, the United States announced “the normalization of relations with Venezuela under the interim president Delcy Rodríguez”. The official added that Washington’s goal is to achieve “a gradual process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government.” “To facilitate this transition, the United States recognizes Delcy Rodríguez as the sole head of state, capable of acting on behalf of Venezuela,” he emphasized.

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During Trump’s first term, the United States considered the 2018 presidential elections fraudulent and in 2019 recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó, then president of the National Assembly, as the interim president of the country.