CIA director John Ratcliffe visits with Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela
by Lisa Hornung · UPIJan. 16 (UPI) -- CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with acting Venezuela President Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas on Thursday.
"During the meeting in Caracas, Director Ratcliffe discussed potential opportunities for economic collaboration and that Venezuela can no longer be a safe haven for America's adversaries, especially narcotraffickers," a U.S. official told The New York Times.
The meeting with Rodríguez was meant to build trust, according to the official, and shows Ratcliffe's emphasis on human intelligence gathering and wanting the agency to be less risk avoidant.
The CIA was involved in the plan to capture Maduro, CNN reported. In August, a small team went covertly to Venezuela to track Maduro's movements, which aided the operation. The CIA also had an asset inside the Venezuelan government who helped track his movements.
Rodríguez was installed as Venezuela's leader after U.S. forces captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and brought them to New York. Rodríguez was vice president under Maduro.
While many wanted opposition leader Maria Corina Machado to become the new president, the U.S. government decided that there wasn't enough support in the country for her. Installing Rodríguez was seen as a way to prevent the type of chaos seen in Iraq after the United States dismantled the Iraqi army, the Times reported.
Machado visited President Donald Trump in Washington Thursday, and she gave him her Nobel Peace Prize, which she was awarded in 2025.