CARACAS, Jan 07 (AFP): Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodriguez insisted Tuesday no foreign power was governing her country, even as US President Donald Trump announced Caracas will be swiftly turning over millions of barrels of oil to the United States.
Rodriguez, who was vice president under toppled leader Nicolas Maduro, has given mixed signals about how much she is prepared to cooperate with Trump, at times sounding conciliatory, at others defiant.
Speaking three days after US special forces snatched Maduro and his wife in a stunning raid in Caracas, Rodriguez said: "The government of Venezuela is in charge in our country, and no-one else."
"There is no foreign agent governing Venezuela."
Trump insists Washington is now "in charge" of the Caribbean country but has said he is prepared to work with Rodriguez-provided she submits to his demand for access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves.
Venezuela interim leader taps ex-central bank boss to lead economy
Venezuela's caretaker president Delcy Rodriguez on Tuesday appointed a former central bank director to her cabinet's top economic post, one she herself had held until the toppling of leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.
Rodriguez picked Calixto Ortega Sanchez, who led Venezuela's central bank from 2018 to 2025 and also has a background in the oil industry.
It was her first cabinet change since being sworn in as interim president Monday, two days after a US military strike that led to Maduro being whisked away in handcuffs to stand trial in New York.
Rodriguez held the same economic portfolio Sanchez will now take over, while she also served as Maduro's vice president and oversaw Venezuela's key hydrocarbons sector.
In a statement on state TV, she said the government hoped "to consolidate" last year's numbers going forward-citing a projection of the ECLAC regional economic commission of 6.5 per cent growth for Venezuela in 2025.
The South American country's economic outlook is complex, with a depreciation of the local currency stoking fears of hyperinflation.
Vice president since 2018, Rodriguez is credited with helping Venezuela out of a deep economic crisis with the easing of exchange controls and allowing the dollarization of the economy.
She is operating under the watchful eye of US President Donald Trump who has said he would work with her if she toes the line, and has stated he wants "total access" to Venezuelan oil.
Cuba publishes details of 32 officers killed in US strike
on Venezuela
The ranks and ages of the 32 Cuban military personnel killed during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US forces were published Tuesday by the Cuban government.
