Trump's two cards: Delcy Rodríguez and María Corina Machado

The Chavista to consolidate it and the activist to take it away. Trump knows the political virtues of both. He knows that DR wants to win the total trust of the White House and that MCM seeks to win Trump's sympathy by flattering him at any cost. 

Both know that Trump has real power over Venezuela at the moment and that the fate of their aspirations will depend on how much they comply with Washington's instructions, and neither should take offense at what I am saying. 

In fact, they do not have a blank check to be creative. There is a script to be followed scrupulously, and that reality is the only one that counts for the US president when it comes to making assessments.

Trump does not place them on the same level. He is very careful about the role that DR currently plays, opening up to US interests, almost with understandable desperation, but he does not hesitate for a moment to remind the Chavista-Madurista leader that any attempt to circumvent the plan designed by the White House for Venezuela will result in a total loss of Trump's trust, who will give her the thumbs down. As expected, DR, looking only at the example of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, both confined in New York, while they face justice in the US on several charges, enduring one of the harshest winters in the country, she will be scrupulous in complying with President Trump's instructions. Every time the Venezuelan shows signs of wanting to seize power, he reminds her of her legal situation, which, as I have mentioned, is no different from that of Maduro.

As for MCM, President Trump knows that she would do anything to become president of Venezuela, a truth that I believe to be very logical and deserved, but also that before she does so, it must be said that it will be Edmundo González, elected president in the 2025 elections, who will take office.

The only truth, from Trump's pragmatic point of view, is that DR and MCM are his key pieces in calculating everything he wants from Venezuela, and that is why he takes care to keep them away from each other, but encourages them to fight all the time, allowing him greater control, under the wise thesis that “divide and conquer.”

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Mackay. Former Foreign Minister of Peru and Internationalist

Article published in Diario Expreso