WASHINGTON (AP) — Delcy Rodríguez, a Venezuelan interim president and former vice president, has been under scrutiny by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for years, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
The AP reported that the DEA’s records dating at least to 2018 include intelligence on Rodríguez and allegations involving drug trafficking and other possible criminal activity. The report said the DEA designated Rodríguez a “priority target” in 2022, a label the DEA reserves for suspects believed to have a “significant” impact on drug trafficking.
The AP said the DEA has kept a detailed intelligence file on Rodríguez for years, including information about people the documents identify as associates and allegations spanning narcotics and what the AP described as gold smuggling. The AP said agents also relied on information from a confidential informant in early 2021, when the informant told the DEA that Rodríguez used hotels on the Caribbean resort island of Isla Margarita “as a façade to launder money,” according to the records.
The AP noted that it could not independently confirm some of the informant-based information in the files. The report described DEA material that links Rodríguez to Isla Margarita hotels allegedly used as fronts for money laundering, while stating that AP could not verify the allegations through an independent process.
The AP also reported that nearly a dozen DEA investigations have involved Rodríguez, with some still ongoing. The report said the investigations included offices in locations ranging from Paraguay and Ecuador to Phoenix and New York, and that three current and former DEA agents who reviewed the records told AP the documents show intense interest in Rodríguez during much of her vice presidency, which began in 2018. Those agents, the AP reported, were not authorized to discuss the DEA investigations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The AP said the records do not explain why Rodríguez was elevated to priority-target status. The report added that the DEA maintains hundreds of priority targets at any given time, and that being labeled a priority target does not necessarily mean someone will be charged with a crime.
In comments provided to AP, Kurt Lunkenheimer, a former federal prosecutor in Miami, said it is not surprising that Rodríguez could become a high-priority target as her role rose, but argued that a priority label is different from evidence that supports an accusation. “Estaba en ascenso, por lo que no es sorprendente que pudiera convertirse en un objetivo de alta prioridad con su rol”, Lunkenheimer said, adding: “El problema es cuando la gente habla de ti y te conviertes en un objetivo de alta prioridad, hay una diferencia entre eso y la evidencia que respalda una acusación”.
The AP reported that Venezuela’s Ministry of Popular Power for Communication and Information did not respond to requests for comment. It also said the DEA and the U.S. Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment, and that when asked whether Trump trusts Rodríguez, the White House referred AP to earlier Trump remarks about having a “very good conversation” with the interim president on Wednesday, a day before she met in Caracas with CIA director John Ratcliffe.
The AP said Trump began praising Rodríguez shortly after he announced plans tied to the capture of deposed President Nicolás Maduro, including calling her a “persona maravillosa” in comments the week before. The report quoted Steve Dudley, co-director of InSight Crime, who said the Trump administration sought to install Rodríguez as the person managing U.S. interests in a volatile post-Maduro Venezuela.
The AP also reported that María Corina Machado, a leading opposition figure, said the U.S. justice system has enough information about Rodríguez and that her profile is clear. “El sistema de justicia estadounidense tiene suficiente información sobre ella”, Machado said. “Su perfil es bastante claro”.
In addition, the AP said Rob Zachariasiewicz, a former DEA agent who led investigations into senior Venezuelan officials and now is a managing partner at Elicius Intelligence, said Rodríguez has been part of what he described as a criminal enterprise. “Delcy Rodríguez ha sido parte de esta empresa criminal”, Zachariasiewicz said.
The AP report placed the U.S. scrutiny in the context of Venezuela’s political transition after Maduro’s removal, and included references to Venezuela’s ranking by Transparency International, which AP said ranks the country as the third most corrupt in the world. For Rodríguez, the AP described the DEA attention as a potential double-edged issue amid statements by Trump that she would pay a “very high” price—possibly greater than Maduro’s—if she did not align with U.S. demands.
The AP report said the DEA files also indicate investigations related to alleged ties between Rodríguez and Alex Saab, a business associate the U.S. arrested in 2020 on federal money-laundering charges. The AP said Saab was later pardoned in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange involving Americans held in Venezuela, while DEA inquiries into alleged contract-related involvement involving Saab and Rodríguez remained underway, according to the documents the AP reviewed.
Separately, the AP reported that DEA records indicate interest in possible corrupt arrangements involving Omar Nassif-Sruji, described by the AP as a relative connected to Rodríguez’s long-term romantic partner, Yussef Nassif. The AP reported that Nassif-Sruji did not respond to requests for comment and that his lawyer denied any illicit involvement and said Nassif-Sruji has not been charged with any crime. “Las insinuaciones de que el señor Nassif está involucrado en cualquier relación indebida con la presidenta interina son falsas”, said lawyer Jihad M. Smaili in a statement to AP.
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