![\"Venezuela's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2255668377.jpg\" "\\"Venezuela's")
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Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez (L) speaks next to Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello during a press conference at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas on January 14, 2026. <\/p>\n
JUAN BARRETO<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Venezuelan President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s decision to hand over regime financial operator Alex Saab to the United States to face corruption charges has placed all members of Venezuela\u2019s socialist ruling movement at risk of facing the same fate, an influential hardliner claims.<\/p>\n
Mario Silva\u2019s comments, delivered in a video posted on social media, offer a new glimpse into the rapidly widening fault lines inside the Caracas regime, as Rodr\u00edguez seeks to appease the Trump administration while simultaneously trying to maintain control over the socialist movement launched by late President Hugo Ch\u00e1vez a quarter century ago.<\/p>\n
Silva, the longtime host of the state-aligned television program La Hojilla \u2014 The Razor Blade \u2014 has for weeks warned that the balancing act is doomed to fail and that Rodr\u00edguez and her allies in the interim government that took power after the pre-dawn military operation that extracted former strongman Nicol\u00e1s Maduro would ultimately be betrayed by the United States.<\/p>\n
A staunch Maduro ally who was pushed out in March from the state-run network Venezolana de Televisi\u00f3n, Silva has emerged as perhaps the most visible public face of discontent within the so-called chavismo duro \u2014 hardline Chavismo.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s comments appeared aimed at senior ruling party figure Diosdado Cabello, the interior minister who recently accused Silva of fueling divisions within the Chavista movement through increasingly confrontational rhetoric amid mounting tensions in Venezuela\u2019s post-Maduro political landscape.<\/p>\n
In his commentary, Silva argued that Cabello and other senior officials \u2014 including Rodr\u00edguez herself \u2014 now face shared risks following the decision to hand over Saab, who appeared Monday in federal court in Miami to face new money-laundering charges after being deported from Venezuela over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I spoke about the risks of a certain decision, I was referring to everyone,\u201d Silva said. \u201cDiosdado Cabello, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, the entire government.\u201d<\/p>\n
To underscore what he described as the growing threat facing the ruling movement, Silva read aloud a social media post by Republican U.S. Rep Carlos Gim\u00e9nez of Miami, a close ally of President Donald Trump and one of the fiercest critics of Venezuela\u2019s socialist leadership in Washington.<\/p>\n
In the message, Gim\u00e9nez urged Rodr\u00edguez to arrest Cabello, whom he described as \u201cone of the regime\u2019s most powerful enforcers\u201d allegedly tied to \u201ccorruption, repression and criminal networks that have destabilized an entire region.\u201d<\/p>\n
The congressman also called on Rodr\u00edguez to hand Cabello over to U.S. authorities, arguing that \u201caccountability cannot be selective\u201d and that \u201cjustice must be comprehensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time to finish the job,\u201d Gim\u00e9nez wrote in the statement quoted by Silva.<\/p>\n
Cabello, one of the most influential figures in the regime and a longtime ally of Maduro, has been accused by U.S. authorities of narcotics trafficking, corruption and ties to organized crime \u2014 allegations he has repeatedly denied.<\/p>\n
Washington has for years offered multimillion-dollar rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of top Venezuelan officials, including Cabello.<\/p>\n
Silva portrayed Gim\u00e9nez\u2019s comments as evidence that Washington\u2019s pressure campaign against Venezuela\u2019s leadership remains active despite the political realignment that followed Maduro\u2019s capture earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is another attempt to capture Diosdado Cabello, the people will respond because we will not accept that attack again,\u201d Silva said. \u201cAny attack by the gringos on Venezuelan soil, on our homeland, on our own ground, will be answered.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments come as analysts increasingly speculate about growing distrust and internal maneuvering within Venezuela\u2019s ruling coalition following Maduro\u2019s Jan. 3 capture in a U.S.-backed operation in Caracas and the subsequent rise of Rodr\u00edguez as interim president.<\/p>\n
Brian Naranjo, a retired U.S. diplomat who served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas from 2014-18 before being expelled by Maduro\u2019s government, said there is growing concern among hardline Chavistas about the possibility of eventually becoming expendable pieces in Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s effort to consolidate power.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe delivery of Alex Saab showed that the Rodr\u00edguez siblings are willing to bend strategically in ways Maduro never was,\u201d Naranjo said in comments published by the Venezuelan commentary website La Gran Aldea \u2014 The Great Village. \u201cPeople around Diosdado Cabello understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naranjo argued that the Rodr\u00edguez siblings \u2014 Delcy and National Assembly President Jorge Rodr\u00edguez \u2014 are attempting to stabilize their rule by accommodating key U.S. demands while simultaneously restructuring the Venezuelan state to strengthen their own control.<\/p>\n
The Reuters news agency has previously reported<\/a> that former U.S. charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires Laura Dogu presented Caracas with a list of at least seven individuals Washington expected Venezuelan authorities to hand over. Alex Saab, the Colombian businessman and former Maduro ally recently deported to the United States, allegedly headed that list.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no way Saab left Venezuela without the Rodr\u00edguez siblings\u2019 consent, or at least their tacit blessing,\u201d Naranjo said.<\/p>\n The former diplomat said Cabello and other hardliners may increasingly view Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s rapprochement with Washington as a direct threat to their survival.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Rodr\u00edguez siblings are very capable of deceiving President Trump and his closest advisers before eventually turning on them once they feel secure again,\u201d Naranjo warned.<\/p>\n Naranjo described Delcy Rodr\u00edguez as pragmatic and highly calculating, while reserving especially harsh criticism for her brother Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, whom he called \u201cprobably the most evil man\u201d he encountered during his 32-year diplomatic career in Latin America.<\/p>\n He also warned that Washington\u2019s current approach toward Venezuela appears focused more on stability and economic normalization than on democratic transition.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this moment,\u201d he said,\u201d there is no coherent policy in the White House regarding democracy, rule of law, human rights or political transition.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 1:08 PM.<\/p>\n
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