MIAMI — More than three months after the ousting of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, the country’s slow walk to democracy has the opposition running out of patience, and what remains of the Maduro regime looking for ways to stay alive with each passing day. Here is a breakdown of the latest developments inside Venezuela during this past week, including the protesters’ march on Miraflores in Caracas, the expiration of acting president Rodríguez’s 90-day mandate, the collapse of the Islamabad talks, and the ongoing reshuffle of the Venezuelan military’s high command.
The March on MiraFlores
The most significant domestic development in Venezuela this week happened on the streets of Caracas on April 9. Thousands of workers and students clashed with security forces as authorities blocked marches toward the presidential palace.
Demonstrators were stopped by P.N.B. police units using barriers, riot gear, and in some cases, tear gas.
Protesters said economic conditions remain unchanged under interim leader Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed control after Maduro’s capture in January. “We demand a living wage,” protesters chanted, with salaries remaining below $1 per month at the official rate — far short of the estimated $650 needed to cover basic food costs.
The protests brought together labor unions, public sector workers, and retirees, many of whom were previously aligned with the ruling movement. Their demands extended beyond wages to include calls for new presidential elections and institutional reforms. “That increase is a mockery,” said 71-year-old retiree Mauricio Ramos, referring to the government's recent wage adjustment announcement.
Union leader Yuxil Martínez described the security response directly: “They didn’t let us pass. They showed their true face.” The significance of these protests goes beyond wage grievances. Workers who spent years inside the Chavista movement are now in the streets against the government Washington chose to back. That rupture is politically consequential and underreported in the English-language press.
The Mandate Question
The most consequential development in Caracas this week was something that did not happen. Delcy Rodríguez remained Venezuela’s acting president on Monday despite exceeding the 90-day limit on her temporary role set by the country’s high court following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro in January.
Lawmakers have not taken a public vote to extend her term past last Friday’s deadline.
The legal architecture keeping Rodríguez in place is improvised at best. According to the court order, Maduro is still officially Venezuela’s president, and his “forced absence” resulting from what the court called a “kidnapping” makes it temporarily impossible for him to fulfill his duties. Under Venezuela’s constitution, temporary absences are to be filled by the vice president — Rodríguez’s former role — for up to 90 days. That clock has now expired with no constitutional resolution in sight.
Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory at Colombia’s Universidad del Rosario, said the government will most likely try to come up with a legal interpretation to extend her mandate — possibly citing Good Friday or how the days were counted — with everything ultimately validated by a ruling from the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.
In other words, the same legal mechanisms that kept Maduro in power for years are now being deployed to keep his former vice president in place without an election.
For the eight-plus million Venezuelans in the diaspora — including the hundreds of thousands in South Florida — the 90-day milestone matters personally. No election date means no credible framework for return. No credible framework for return means the communities built in Doral, Brickell, and Weston remain indefinitely in place, watching a transition that has not yet transitioned.
The Military Consolidation
Rodríguez appointed General Gustavo González López as Venezuela’s new defense minister, replacing General Vladimir Padrino López, who had been a cornerstone of the military’s support for Maduro since 2014. The appointment was announced via Telegram and described as effective immediately.
The significance of the move extends well beyond a personnel change. Analysts described the reshuffle as the most significant cabinet change since Maduro’s removal.
Sources familiar with the matter suggest it is largely strategic — concentrating U.S.-Venezuela relations in the hands of a trusted inner circle around Rodríguez.
The cabinet change is also widely interpreted as a move to strengthen Rodríguez’s position against political rival Diosdado Cabello, the hardline interior minister with deep ties to Venezuela’s security apparatus.
A day after replacing Padrino, Rodríguez announced a wholesale change of military commanders — new heads of the Strategic Operational Command, the Army, Air Force, Navy, National Guard, and Militia, along with other senior posts. The restructuring came weeks after General Francis Donovan, the head of U.S. Southern Command, made a surprise visit to Caracas focused on implementing Trump’s three-phase stabilization plan for Venezuela.
Benigno Alarcón, founder of the Center for Political and Government Studies at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas, was direct in his assessment: “I believe that what Delcy Rodríguez is trying to do is a political reshuffle within the government, aiming to stay in power as long as possible so that when an election is held, it will be one she can control to some extent.”
Venezuela & the Iran Conflict: The Oil Connection
The failure of the Islamabad talks this week — with Vice President Vance announcing no deal after 21 hours of negotiations — has direct consequences for Venezuela that extend well beyond geopolitics.
The Iran war drove oil prices above $97 per barrel and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to most commercial traffic. With Islamabad producing no agreement and the ceasefire expiring on April 22, those conditions are not improving. For Venezuela, the economic logic is uncomfortable. Higher oil prices boost the revenue Rodríguez’s government receives from the roughly 800,000 to one million barrels Venezuela currently produces each day. But the same instability that keeps prices high also makes the investment and legal framework reforms that could unlock Venezuela’s full production potential harder to deliver — because no major energy company will commit billions to a country whose regional energy environment is in crisis.
Venezuela’s National Assembly this week approved a reform of mining laws that allows greater private investment in the country’s mineral sector, with the bill advancing to constitutional review. The measure forms part of broader economic changes aimed at increasing foreign participation in natural resource industries.
The reform is real progress on the investment framework. But ExxonMobil’s assessment from early January, following the removal of Maduro — that Venezuela remains “uninvestable” without structural changes to commercial and legal frameworks — has not changed.
What to Watch For Next
Three variables will determine whether the transition to democracy advances or stalls in the coming days:
First, whether the Supreme Tribunal of Justice issues a ruling formalizing Rodríguez’s mandate extension, which would settle the constitutional question legally while doing nothing to address its democratic legitimacy.
Second, whether María Corina Machado follows through on her announced return to Venezuela. Her physical presence in Caracas would force the question of elections onto the political agenda in a way that cannot be managed from abroad.
Third, whether the collapse of the Islamabad talks accelerates Washington’s push to monetize Venezuelan oil as a substitute for Hormuz-constrained Gulf supply — and whether that acceleration comes with political conditions attached or not.
The transition is 100 days old. It has produced economic opening, diplomatic normalization, and a series of institutional reshuffles. It has not produced elections, a credible democratic framework, or the conditions that would bring some remnants of Venezuela’s eight-million-strong diaspora back home. Those remain the measures by which this transition will ultimately be judged.
Venezuela Now is a weekly briefing for Sociedad Premium subscribers, produced by the editorial team at Sociedad Media. Tips, firsthand accounts, and questions from the Venezuelan diaspora: info@sociedadmedia.com
