MIAMI, CARACAS — Mauricio Claver-Carone, the Miami-based businessman who emerged as one of the Trump administration’s most influential unofficial voices on Venezuela policy, has left his role — with sharply conflicting accounts of whether he walked away or was forced out.
A Role Without a Title, But With Real Power
Claver-Carone held no formal position within the U.S. government. Yet current and former officials and business sources in both the United States and Venezuela described his function in strikingly direct terms, likening it to that of a “viceroy.”
He reported to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has led the administration’s Venezuela policy, and became one of the most consequential figures shaping that policy since the January 3 U.S. military operation that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
During his tenure, Claver-Carone wielded significant influence over decisions with potential value in the billions of dollars — including debt restructuring and oil deals central to Venezuela’s economic future. He worked closely with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed power after Maduro’s replacement and has proven considerably more receptive than Maduro to U.S. demands to open Venezuela’s economy to American business interests.
Resignation or Removal?
Claver-Carone’s own account frames his exit as a natural conclusion to a temporary assignment. “Just like in the first term and my service last year as Special Envoy, I was honored to provide advice and experience as a private citizen on Venezuela and to fill gaps early on … to ensure President Trump’s policy was successful,” he said in a statement.
“Over the last six months, there has now been an inter-agency team, led by Secretary Rubio, and a reestablished Embassy team, created to fully implement the President's policy.”
That account is directly contradicted by multiple sources familiar with the matter, who told Reuters he was pushed out in recent weeks rather than stepping aside voluntarily. Claver-Carone previously served briefly as Special Envoy for Latin America earlier in Trump’s second administration before leaving to start his own private equity fund — meaning this marks his second departure from a Venezuela-focused role inside a relatively short span.
An Internal Rivalry Behind the Scenes
Central to the more contested version of events is Richard Grenell, a prominent Trump ally, former U.S. ambassador, and himself a previous special envoy to Venezuela.
According to several sources familiar with the matter, Grenell raised concerns directly with Trump in early July about Claver-Carone’s business dealings in Caracas. Grenell did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
The dispute suggests Claver-Carone’s expansive, informal authority over Venezuela policy — exercised without the accountability structures that typically accompany a formal government post — had become a source of friction within Trump’s broader circle of Venezuela advisers.
What Happens to Venezuela Policy Now
It remains unclear how significantly Claver-Carone’s departure will reshape the administration’s approach to Venezuela and its business relationships going forward.
Caleb Orr, the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs, is reported to have worked alongside Claver-Carone during his tenure, and several other U.S. officials continue to play substantial roles in Venezuela policy with no indication they intend to step back. Reporting suggests that while Claver-Carone was arguably one of the most prominent figure on the Venezuela file other than Rubio himself, the underlying policy apparatus — now organized as a formal inter-agency team under Rubio's leadership, alongside a reestablished U.S. Embassy presence — appears designed to continue functioning without him.
Claver-Carone’s exit adds a new wrinkle to a Venezuela policy picture that has already drawn scrutiny this year for how much authority has concentrated in unofficial or quasi-official channels.
Rubio’s own expansive role — described elsewhere as overseeing Venezuelan oil revenue disbursement and maintaining direct contact with Rodríguez — has already drawn comparisons to an outsized, hands-on American presence in shaping the country’s post-Maduro trajectory.
Claver-Carone’s parallel, entirely unofficial track running alongside that effort — reportedly worth billions in potential business decisions, run by a private citizen with no formal accountability — adds a further layer to questions already circulating about how transparently Venezuela's economic opening to American business interests has been managed.
For Rodríguez’s government, the change removes a key contact who had built a productive working relationship with Washington’s informal power center on Venezuela policy. Whether his replacement — whoever, formally or informally, fills that function going forward — maintains the same cooperative dynamic with Caracas is likely to become clearer only in the coming weeks, as the reorganized inter-agency team Claver-Carone described takes fuller shape.
