Sawt Falasteen - New Venezuelan leader walks tightrope with US, Maduro loyalists

Former deputy president Rodriguez, 56, was sworn in as acting leader Monday, as Maduro appeared in a New York court, where he pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and "narco-terrorism."

His wife, Cilia Flores, who was snatched with him by US special forces from a military base in Caracas on Saturday during a bombing raid, also pleaded not guilty.

Rodriguez, whom US President Donald Trump has indicated he is willing to work with, faces a delicate balancing act.

She has suggested that she will cooperate with Washington, which wants to tap Venezuela's massive oil reserves.

But she has also sought to project unity with the hardliners in Maduro's administration, who control the security forces and powerful paramilitaries.

Venezuela's journalists' union said Tuesday that 14 journalists and media workers, most of them representing foreign media, were detained while covering the presidential inauguration at parliament on Monday and later released.

Two other journalists for foreign media were detained near the Colombian border and later released, it added.

- Character questioned -

Thousands of people marched through Caracas in support of Maduro on Monday and further demonstrations were planned on Tuesday.

On Monday, Rodriguez told the opening of parliament she was "in pain over the kidnapping of our heroes, the hostages in the United States," referring to Maduro and Flores.

The session turned into an impromptu rally for "Chavismo" -- the anti-US, socialist policies of late firebrand leader Hugo Chavez and his anointed heir Maduro.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who has been given no role by Washington in the post-Maduro transition, warned in a Fox News interview that Rodriguez was not to be trusted.

"Delcy Rodriguez as you know is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narcotrafficking," she said.

"She's the main ally and liaison with Russia, China, Iran, certainly not an individual that could be trusted by international investors."

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate vowed to return home "as soon as possible" from her current undisclosed location outside the country.

Trump has so far backed Rodriguez, but warned she would pay "a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro" if she does not comply with Washington's agenda.

So far she has made no changes to the cabinet, with Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, widely seen as wielding the real power in Venezuela, retaining their posts.

"Delcy had better be sleeping with one eye open right now because right behind her are two men who would be more than happy to cut her throat and take control themselves," Brian Naranjo, a former US diplomat who was previously stationed in Venezuela, told AFP.

Venezuelan political analyst Mariano de Alba agreed that the new government was "unstable," but said that Chavismo had understood that "only through apparent cohesion can they keep themselves in power."

- 'We will win' -

A retired general who held high-ranking positions in the military predicted that Rodriguez would throw open Venezuela to US oil and mining companies and perhaps resume diplomatic ties, broken off by Maduro in 2019.

He also believed she would seek to appease criticism of Venezuela's dire rights record by releasing political prisoners.

She has been sworn in for a 90-day interim term that can be extended for another three months by parliament.

The constitution says that after Maduro is formally declared absent, elections must be held within 30 days.

Machado told Fox News that "in free and fair elections, we will win by over 90 percent of the votes, I have no doubt about it."

She vowed to "turn Venezuela into the energy hub of the Americas" and "dismantle all these criminal structures" and "bring millions of Venezuelans that have been forced to flee our country back home."

She also offered to give her Nobel prize -- an award Trump has long publicly coveted -- to the US president.

Machado said, however, that she had not spoken to Trump since October 10.

J.AbuHassan--SF-PST