SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
It's been almost a month since the U.S. military seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The United States' top diplomat arrived in Caracas this weekend to reopen the American diplomatic mission there after seven years of severed ties. And this morning on CBS' "Face The Nation," Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said that the pressure put on her country's government by the Trump administration seems to be working.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FACE THE NATION ")
MARIA CORINA MACHADO: So far, we're seeing the results in the actions taken by the regime and also in the mood and energy that is growing within the Venezuelan population.
MCCAMMON: Journalist Manuel Rueda is in Caracas and has been following the latest developments. Hello.
MANUEL RUEDA, BYLINE: Hi.
MCCAMMON: Manuel, just, if you could, help us understand what it's like on the ground right now. What's changed? And are there parts of life that feel relatively normal?
RUEDA: Right. I mean, so on the surface, many of the same people are still in charge, Maduro's closest allies remain in government, and they've pretty much consolidated their grip on power. That said, this interim government, which is now led by Maduro's former vice president, is under significant pressure to make concessions both to the U.S. and to Venezuela's opposition because we're not just talking now about economic sanctions if you don't comply with U.S. demands. We're talking about the risk of being imprisoned or even killed.
So on the economic front, for example, lawmakers have passed legislation allowing private companies, including U.S. companies, to operate oil wells here and sell Venezuelan oil. Previously, only Venezuelan state oil company could do that. Politically, the government has started to release dissidents who were jailed under Maduro on treason charges, but at a much slower pace than they claim. On Friday, they announced an amnesty law that could lead to the release of around 700 people who remain in jail. But opposition leaders argue that these steps don't go far enough. They say Venezuela needs deeper structural reforms to begin putting the country on a path to democracy.
MCCAMMON: Right, and the opposition has been calling for new elections. How likely is that to happen?
RUEDA: Well, the issue is that to have competitive and fair elections, there's other things that need to change first. For example, you need to lift the media censorship so that it's not just the politicians from the ruling party speaking on radio and television, which is happening right now. There's also 60 websites that are censored in Venezuela. That would need to change. You need to have an elections agency that counts the votes properly. That did not happen in the 2024 election when they said Maduro won but never provided any evidence to back that up.
And you also need to have an independent judicial system. I mean, in the 2024 elections, for example, there were several opposition leaders who were banned from participating in the election, including the top opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado. And that was done by judges who were basically taking orders from the ruling party. So whether these things will happen, it depends on the current government which has been slow walking reforms, and then on how much pressure the Trump administration exerts on them.
MCCAMMON: So how are ordinary Venezuelans reacting to all of this?
RUEDA: Well, what I see here is a sense of quiet optimism. There's still some fear of repression, so not major protests in the streets but smaller events centered around demands like the freedom of the political prisoners. This is what Ophelia Migliaccio, a teacher who I met at one of these events for the political prisoners, told me.
OPHELIA MIGLIACCIO: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: So she was saying there that she feels a lot of hope, but mainly because now there are powerful forces outside Venezuela, like the Trump administration, that are pressuring the government in this country to make changes. So when you speak to people here, some people will tell you that they feel that the Trump administration will be interested in maintaining pressure in Venezuela until elections are held. Others are worried that the Trump administration might lose interest, especially when the oil industry is running again, and might actually end up working for many more months or years to come with the current people who are in power in Venezuela.
MCCAMMON: Manuel Rueda in Caracas, thanks so much.
RUEDA: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
