Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela's National Assembly and brother of acting president Delcy Rodriguez, sat down for an exclusive interview with Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" on Saturday in Caracas — and delivered a message that was equal parts reassurance and delay. The country, he insisted, is stabilizing after U.S. forces captured dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. But elections? Those will have to wait.
Rodriguez spoke through an interpreter from the Venezuelan capital, painting a picture of calm streets and a mature populace absorbing what he acknowledged was a seismic shock. When pressed on when Venezuelans might actually vote, he offered process language instead of a date:
The only thing I could say is that there will not be an election in this immediate period of time where the stabilization has to be achieved.
That single sentence tells you everything about where Venezuela stands right now — and where it might be headed.
According to Newsmax, Maduro and Flores were brought to the United States to face federal drug charges after their capture by U.S. forces. The operation removed a dictator who had claimed victory in the 2024 elections despite the fact that many international observers, including the United States, said the opposition Vente Party had actually won.
The State Department had already condemned Maduro's "illegitimate attempt to seize power" and made clear that Washington did not recognize him as Venezuela's lawful president. His removal was the logical conclusion of that position — not a diplomatic statement, but an enforcement action.
Now Maduro sits in U.S. custody, and his sister-in-law Delcy Rodriguez serves as acting president. Her brother is the one making the media rounds.
Jorge Rodriguez is not a newcomer to the Chavista machinery. He served as vice president under the late dictator Hugo Chavez from 2007 to 2008, then as mayor of Caracas from 2008 to 2017. He has led the National Assembly since 2021 as part of the Simon Bolivar Great Patriotic Pole coalition — the political vehicle that kept Chavismo in power for a generation.
So when Rodriguez describes his sister's government as pursuing "reinstitutionalization," it's worth asking: reinstitutionalization according to whom?
What we have agreed at the moment, what we're working on at the moment, is what we call the reinstitutionalization of the country so that every single institution of the country can again be brought to full power and full recognition by everybody.
That's a lot of words to describe a process with no timeline, no benchmarks, and no outside verification. The institutions of Venezuela didn't crumble by accident. They were hollowed out deliberately by the same political movement Rodriguez has served for nearly two decades.
Rodriguez was careful to frame the delay in democratic terms. He referenced the Venezuelan constitution repeatedly, insisting the interim government would follow it to the letter:
And this interim government is going to do everything following exactly what is stated in the constitution
He also promised a process that would satisfy all parties:
We're going to work on the timetable that suits everybody and that guarantees not only to the winners, but also to those who do not win, that all guarantees are going to be safe, and they're going to be provided by both the current parties.
Appealing to constitutional order is a well-worn tactic for governments that have spent years subverting it. Maduro claimed constitutional authority when he refused to leave office after losing. Chavez rewrote the constitution to consolidate power in the first place. The document Rodriguez invokes has been a tool of authoritarian control for the better part of two decades.
When Rob Schmitt asked whether the last election was illegitimate, Rodriguez refused to concede the point:
No. There's a reality speaking to the fact that we have been divided for a very long time. ... We have in Venezuela a very clear itinerary, a very clear timetable for elections, and this is stated clearly in the Constitution of Venezuela.
The international community — and Venezuela's own opposition voters — might see that differently.
Rodriguez repeatedly emphasized normalcy. He noted that Newsmax's own team had been in Caracas and could see the calm for themselves:
We know that you have been around Caracas lately, and you've been able to see the normality on the streets.
He described the Venezuelan people as "incredibly mature" in their response to what he called "a highly traumatic event" — Maduro's capture. And he framed the government's mission in the softest possible terms:
The government of Delcy Rodriguez is actually looking for that, to stabilize the country completely and to make it all good and reconcile everybody, all the population of Venezuela.
Stable streets are better than chaos. No one disputes that. But stability under the continued governance of Chavista insiders — with no election date, no independent oversight, and no accountability for the regime that drove millions from their homes — is not the same thing as democratic progress. It's management.
The United States removed Maduro. That was the hard part operationally, but the easy part strategically. The harder question is what comes next — and whether the Rodriguez family's version of "reinstitutionalization" amounts to a genuine democratic transition or a Chavismo rebrand with better PR.
The opposition Vente Party won the 2024 election by the assessment of the U.S. and international observers. If the interim government's "timetable that suits everybody" doesn't result in the recognized winners taking power, then the capture of Maduro will have changed the face at the top without changing the system underneath.
Jorge Rodriguez knows how to speak the language of reconciliation and constitutionalism. He's had decades of practice inside a regime that used both words as shields. The interview on Newsmax was polished, deliberate, and aimed squarely at an American audience.
Venezuela's people deserve more than polished words from familiar faces. They voted. The world saw it. The question now is whether anyone in Caracas intends to honor that vote — or whether "stabilization" is just the new word for delay.
