Acting President and Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who has been leading Venezuela since President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces, publicly proposed cooperation with the United States.
According to the Associated Press and other foreign media, Rodríguez said in a statement on the 4th (local time), "We ask the United States to work with us within the framework of international law, focusing on a cooperative agenda that seeks joint development."
Rodríguez said, "Our people and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war," and "On the premise of sovereign equality and noninterference in internal affairs, we prioritize moving toward a balanced and mutually respectful international relationship between the United States and Venezuela."
Immediately after Maduro's arrest, during an emergency Cabinet meeting, Rodríguez had said, "Our only president is Maduro," demanding the release of Maduro and his wife, and she pushed back against U.S. President Donald Trump's remark about "running Venezuela," saying, "Venezuela will not become a colony of any country."
However, after Trump warned that "(Vice President Rodríguez) will pay a very heavy price if she does not do the right thing," she appeared to shift her stance under pressure. Trump also said that, if necessary, the United States could carry out a second strike on Venezuela that day.
Bloomberg News assessed that "Rodríguez's statement could provoke backlash from hard-liners within the government who have long regarded the United States as an imperialist threat and viewed Maduro's arrest as a violation of national sovereignty."