“Venezuela is entering a new political era, one that allows for understanding despite political and ideological differences and diversity,” Rodríguez said last week. On Thursday, she sat down in Caracas, the capital, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, whose agency helped plot Maduro’s abduction. The ideas of Chávez, a charismatic figure who inspired a generation of Latin American leftists, have been irrevocably tarnished, Krauze said. “Venezuelans are exhausted after 26 years of Chavismo,” Venezuelan journalist Boris Muñoz wrote in Time magazine. Special correspondent Mery Mogollón contributed from Caracas, Venezuela.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 19, 2026 17:47 UTC