The Trump administration has quietly ordered federal prosecutors in Miami to halt criminal investigations into Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez, despite years of Drug Enforcement Administration scrutiny, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations.
The directive effectively removes legal pressure from Rodríguez as the administration pursues oil deals and investment opportunities in Venezuela, raising concerns among Democratic lawmakers and former prosecutors about the politicization of criminal enforcement. "Everybody has been told to stand down," one former official told The Associated Press.
A Detailed Intelligence File
DEA records obtained by the AP show Rodríguez has consistently appeared on federal law enforcement radar dating to at least 2018, the eighth year of agency attention. The DEA amassed a detailed intelligence file on her, receiving allegations ranging from drug trafficking to gold smuggling. One confidential informant told DEA in early 2021, the fifth year of documented concerns, that Rodríguez was using hotels in the Caribbean resort of Isla Margarita "as a front to launder money," the records show.
Her name has surfaced in nearly a dozen DEA investigations—several of which remained ongoing as recently as this year—involving field offices from Paraguay and Ecuador to Phoenix and New York. She had even been linked to Maduro's alleged bag man, Alex Saab, whom U.S. authorities first arrested in 2020, the sixth year of that investigation, on money-laundering charges.
A Justice Department spokesperson said in an email, "there was never an investigation into her to shut down." It was unclear whether prosecutors had implicated Rodríguez in any crimes or whether investigators were moving toward an indictment. Rodríguez, a U.S. attorney representing her and the Venezuelan Communications Ministry didn't respond to requests for comment.
Oil Deals Over Democratic Accountability
The pause on scrutiny was meant to avoid upsetting the administration's efforts to stabilize Venezuela after the capture of her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, among other reasons, officials said. In recent months, the U.S. has lifted sanctions against Rodríguez and recognized her as Venezuela's sole head of state, allowing her to re-establish ties with western banks and more freely work with U.S. investors seeking to tap into the world's largest petroleum reserves.
President Donald Trump praised Rodríguez as a "terrific person" shortly after the U.S. military took Maduro and his wife to New York to face federal narcotics charges. Both have pleaded not guilty. "The Oil is beginning to flow, and the professionalism and dedication between both Countries is a very nice thing to see!" Trump wrote on social media in early March.
Missing in all the mutual backslapping is any talk of elections, even as Rodríguez last month blew through a 90-day limit set by Venezuela's high court to fill Maduro's position on a temporary basis. "I don't know," she responded in English when a visiting U.S. journalist earlier this month shouted out a question about her time frame for holding elections. "Some time."
Democratic Lawmakers Demand Answers
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has demanded the administration explain its favorable treatment of Rodríguez, calling her a "central figure in Nicolás Maduro's repressive regime." "Sanctions have been lifted on Ms. Rodríguez without any indication that she has taken concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order," Shaheen, joined by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent last week.
Rodríguez and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, the head of the National Assembly, were hit with U.S. sanctions during Trump's first term for their role in undermining Venezuelan democracy and cementing Maduro's authoritarian rule.
Duncan Levin, a former prosecutor who worked for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, said it would be "deeply troubling" for law enforcement to be "told to stand down from a legitimate investigation for political or transactional reasons." "The White House cannot use criminal enforcement as a diplomatic light switch," Levin told AP. "DOJ decisions are supposed to be based on law, evidence, policy and public safety—not on whether a foreign official is useful to the administration at a given moment."
A Pattern of Interference
The pausing of the investigations into Rodríguez comes as the Trump administration has similarly tapped the brakes on ongoing federal investigations into another prominent Latin American leftist, Colombian President Gustavo Petro. The DEA had also designated Petro a "priority target" over alleged ties to drug traffickers that had been probed for months by federal prosecutors. The New York Times reported in March that U.S. officials recently assured the Colombian government Petro does not face charges in those cases.
Rick de la Torre, a former CIA chief of station in Caracas, said that the decision to shield Rodríguez fits well with the Trump administration's foreign policy goals in Venezuela. "She's a lifelong Marxist and was a senior leader of one of the world's most corrupt regimes but the U.S. is providing her with breathing space and carrots to lay the foundation for democracy and U.S. investment," said de la Torre, the CEO of Tower Strategy, which advises companies on Venezuela. "There's a shelf life to her utility, however. At some point she will face justice," he added.
Two of the former officials said Rodríguez has also come up in meetings with investigators in Tampa tasked last year by former Attorney General Pam Bondi with looking into financial crimes in Venezuela. At the time, Rodríguez was serving as Maduro's vice president. Justice Department policy requires the attorney general to personally approve the charging of any foreign head of state, who are normally immune from prosecution under international and U.S. law.
It was not clear whether the White House, which deferred comment to the Justice Department, was involved in the decision.
Why This Matters:
The Trump administration's decision to halt criminal investigations into Venezuela's acting president, despite years of DEA intelligence alleging serious financial crimes, raises fundamental questions about the independence of law enforcement from political and commercial interests. When prosecutors are ordered to "stand down" on investigations involving foreign officials who control access to oil reserves, it suggests that corporate investment opportunities and diplomatic convenience can override the rule of law. Democratic lawmakers and former prosecutors warn this sets a dangerous precedent—turning criminal enforcement into a negotiable commodity rather than an impartial process based on evidence and public safety. For the Venezuelan people, the pause on accountability means their acting leader faces no external pressure to restore democratic order or hold elections, even after exceeding the 90-day constitutional limit for her temporary position. The pattern extends beyond Venezuela, with similar protections reportedly extended to Colombia's president, suggesting a broader willingness to subordinate criminal justice to transactional foreign policy goals.