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Documentary, Crisis in Venezuela Frontline 2026
#Venezuela #Documentary #Crisis
#Venezuela #Documentary #Crisis
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00:00.
00:05.
00:30What the f*** are you doing?
00:36I was woken up by an explosion.
00:46I was looking out the window.
00:49It was the loudest noise I have ever heard.
00:55My building also shook.
01:04I had my phone in my hand and I sent a message and said, hi, I think we're under attack.
01:19Everybody was asking everybody what was going on.
01:25Fighter jets and bombers took out Venezuelan air defenses, paving the way for Delta Force commandos to close in on
01:33the compound.
01:35It involved months of planning, special forces, a sort of operation you would expect in a Hollywood movie, but not
01:44something that I expected the U.S. government to attempt.
01:48President Trump says Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores have been captured and flown out of the country.
01:54Maduro faced charges of drug trafficking, narco terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine.
02:00My reaction to the capture of Maduro was just shock.
02:04I turned on my phone and there's like tons of messages from top editors at the AAP.
02:09I got straight to work.
02:11In the weeks since the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, teams from Frontline and the Associated Press have been
02:17on the ground in Venezuela.
02:21Liberta! Liberta!
02:23Liberta!
02:23And the United States.
02:24We got to find out what all this means.
02:27Oh my God, that's huge.
02:29Okay.
02:30Sitting down with former U.S. officials, Venezuelan politicians and experts.
02:37Charting President Trump's long campaign to topple Maduro.
02:42All options, always, all options are on the table.
02:45Maduro's lieutenants are all still running the country.
02:48Investigating the regime loyalists who've been left in charge.
02:52Dulce Rodriguez has been officially sworn in as interior president.
02:56We just had a great conversation today and she's a terrific person.
03:01And the Nobel Prize winning opposition leader who remains in exile.
03:05Mr. Trump appeared to sideline Maria Carina Machado. He downplayed her support.
03:10This is about a criminal structure that is the regime and the mandate of the Venezuelan people.
03:19Amid an uncertain future.
03:22Secretary of State Marco Rubio is going to be on Capitol Hill today.
03:25This hearing is supposed to focus on the Trump administration's controversial actions in Venezuela.
03:29Now, for the first time in literally a decade, there is the opportunity that something could change.
03:35Our children are going to be free.
03:39What I really fear is some kind of deal in Washington that leaves this regime in place permanently as long
03:47as they're willing to do what we want on oil.
03:50I get it. We all want like something immediately, but this is not a frozen dinner you put in a
03:55microwave and in two and a half minutes it comes out ready to eat.
03:57Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!
04:29It's 9am on the East Coast, and if you're just joining us this morning, we have major breaking news.
04:34Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has been captured by U.S. forces.
04:48Within hours of the raid in Caracas, Venezuelan exiles celebrated in Miami.
04:57And it fell, and it fell, and it fell, and it fell, and it fell, and it fell, and it
05:04fell, and it fell, and it fell, and it fell.
05:06Around 8 million Venezuelans fled abroad during the rule of Nicolas Maduro, more than 700,000 to the United States.
05:14I have all my life waiting for you to see this.
05:19Now it's just right. I tell you that I cried this morning with joy.
05:27Late last night, and early today, at my direction, the United States Armed Forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in
05:39the capital of Venezuela.
05:42It was a force against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas.
05:53This was one of the most stunning...
05:56AP reporter Joshua Goodman is based in Miami, and has been reporting on Venezuela for over a decade.
06:04Initially, after the capture of Maduro, I was focused on who was in power in Caracas.
06:09Maduro ran the country so ruthlessly that his absence was going to immediately create a void.
06:17It was nominally filled by Delce Rodriguez, his vice president and loyal aide during many, many years.
06:24She's, I guess, the president. She was sworn as president just a little while ago.
06:28She had a long conversation with Marco, and she said,
06:31we'll do whatever you need.
06:34I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn't have a choice.
06:47Delce Rodriguez's reaction to Maduro's capture kind of followed the script that you would expect.
06:53She denounced it as a kidnapping, violation of the United Nations Charter.
06:57Jamás volveremos a ser esclavos. Es que jamás volveremos a ser colonias.
07:03De ningún imperio, del tinte que sea.
07:06But within a matter of hours, she sort of switched her discourse a little bit.
07:13And even though she continued to denounce Maduro's, quote, kidnapping,
07:17she also very clearly extended an olive branch to the Trump administration.
07:22Delce Rodriguez has been officially sworn in as interior president.
07:26She's indicated she'll cooperate with Washington, but described Maduro and his wife as hostages.
07:53In Caracas, AP's Venezuela correspondent, Regina Garcia Cano, was covering the impact and reactions on the ground.
08:02As the sun went up, the city remained in absolute silence.
08:14Slowly, we started to see some businesses open and people began to line up outside.
08:24People looked stunned. There were no celebrations. At least not publicly.
08:31There's a lot of triumphs when they walk in the whole country.
08:35What happens in the morning? What happens in half an hour?
08:38Nobody knows what happens.
08:40It's an enigma what we're living at this moment.
08:45This military operation, described as a hit on a large scale,
08:48marks the end of a turbulent chapter in the history of Venezuela.
08:52But it opens an uncertain chapter.
08:54With Delce becoming acting president, many, many questions were left unanswered.
09:04How long is she going to be acting president?
09:08Will there be elections soon or in a year or in two years?
09:15Venezuelans want answers to those questions.
09:20What's going to happen next?
09:23Well, there's a lot of operational details that can't be discussed publicly, obviously, for obvious reasons.
09:28So, as we move forward, we'll describe our process.
09:31Secretary of State Marco Rubio was quickly promoting a three-phase plan for Venezuela.
09:37Step one is the stabilization of the country. We don't want it descending into chaos.
09:41The second phase will be a phase that we call recovery.
09:44And that is ensuring that American, Western and other companies have access to the Venezuelan market
09:49a way that's fair.
09:50Also, at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela
09:55so that the opposition forces can be amnestied and released from prisons
10:00or brought back to the country and begin to rebuild civil society.
10:04And then the third phase, of course, will be one of transition.
10:06Some of this will overlap.
10:07The people of Venezuela are waking up to the same regime.
10:11Do you not worry about that?
10:13Well, first of all, the bottom line is that there is a process now in place
10:17where we have tremendous control and leverage over what those interim authorities are doing and are able to do.
10:33I remember this.
10:35The origins of the U.S. effort to topple Nicolas Maduro go back more than a decade.
10:40This is it. This is it. This is the moment that Nicolas Maduro became president.
10:45In 2012, Maduro was anointed by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, on live television.
10:51Chavez is dying of cancer, and he anoints his successor. Watch.
11:14Maduro shows no expression, but it was the moment that set him up to become president.
11:23Chavez saw the U.S. as his arch enemy and had clashed with it over control of Venezuela's vast oil
11:29reserves.
11:31He'd seized the assets of American oil companies doing business there.
11:36Venezuela is a petro state. It depends exclusively on the sale of oil for income.
11:43Hugo Chavez renegotiated oil contracts in Venezuela, and a lot of the companies didn't like the deal he was offering,
11:50and they sued.
11:51And they, to this day, are owed billions of dollars from that expropriation.
11:56When Maduro came to power after Chavez's death, the oil industry was in disarray, and the economy was collapsing.
12:04At the time, Juan Gonzalez was coordinating U.S. policy on Venezuela for the Obama administration.
12:11Nicolas Maduro was incredibly unpopular at the very beginning, and there were questions about whether he could endure and survive
12:18politically.
12:20The time that Hugo Chavez left coincided with the collapse in oil and gas prices, so Nicolas Maduro no longer
12:26had this pocketbook.
12:29I think Maduro found himself in a position where he had to use increasing crackdowns, even manipulation of elections.
12:42The closure of the democratic space, and was characterized by increased corruption inside of the government, basically just to stay
12:49in power.
12:49I think he had to keep a lot of people happy, so he had to give a lot of money
12:52out.
12:52And yes, people started disappearing.
12:56Maduro banned political opponents and arrested and detained thousands of political prisoners.
13:13Many would end up incarcerated at Alicueta, the notorious headquarters of Venezuelan intelligence.
13:22By 2017, a mass exodus from Venezuela was underway that would continue through Maduro's rule.
13:30We have many options for Venezuela, and by the way, I'm not going to rule out a military option.
13:37We have many options for Venezuela.
13:40In his first term, President Trump already had Maduro in his sights.
13:45The people are suffering, and they're dying.
13:48We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option, if necessary.
13:55Elliot Abrams served as Trump's Special Representative for Venezuela.
14:00We said approximately five million times, all options are on the table.
14:06All options, always. All options are on the table.
14:09I think of all possibilities, all options are open.
14:12And that was true in the sense that it's always true.
14:15But there was no real military plan to do anything like this, partly, I think, because I don't think at
14:24that point there would have been much support in the Pentagon, and there certainly wouldn't have been at CIA.
14:31Initially, President Trump imposed sanctions targeting the regime and its oil sector, part of a strategy known as maximum pressure.
14:39Today we are announcing additional sanctions against the repressive regime, targeting Maduro's inner circle and close advisers.
14:50We had sanctions, we isolated the regime diplomatically, but it didn't work.
14:55Donald Trump, with Venezuela, don't get into it.
15:00Don't get into it.
15:01Ham off Venezuela.
15:06I think one of the pernicious effects of the maximum pressure campaign is actually fueled more corruption.
15:13When Venezuela was restricted, for all intents and purposes, from trading with the rest of the world, they had to
15:20rely on these shadowy networks of oil tankers, relations with other countries like Iran, which were under sanctions.
15:28And when you're dealing outside of traditional markets, the opportunity for graft, for corruption, for inflating prices on government contracts
15:41just grows exponentially.
15:45Maduro used a parallel economy to try to get around the sanctions.
15:50Central to the effort was his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez.
16:06Delcy Rodriguez makes herself indispensable to Maduro. She's sort of the chief operating officer who is coordinating oil sales despite
16:17U.S. sanctions.
16:18She is attracting investment from around the world. She is traveling the world as well to cement relations with places
16:27like Russia.
16:29And during this period, her power expands immensely.
16:34She's also given control over the intelligence services. The Sabine, the feared political police report to her as vice president.
16:49Maduro also relied on another powerful player, a Colombian businessman named Alex Saab.
16:56Alex Saab becomes a kind of personal emissary of Nicolas Maduro, a kind of minister in the dark.
17:05Roberto Dennis is an exiled Venezuelan journalist whose reporting uncovered how Saab used a network of companies to get around
17:13U.S. sanctions, as well as cheat the state oil company, PDVSA.
17:18Y la misión de estas empresas era comercializar petróleo sin que se supiera que era como el petróleo venezolano.
17:26Pero habÃa un escándalo mucho más grande detrás de toda esta operación y es que ellos nunca le pagaron a
17:33Venezuela el dinero que estaban recibiendo por esas exportaciones de petróleo.
17:38En conjunto, estas compañÃas quedaron debiendo la PDVSA 1.5 billones de dólares.
17:46He's stolen enormous amounts of money for Maduro and his cronies.
17:51Alex Saab was prolific in the way that he created shell companies around the world.
17:58Marshall Billingsley was at the U.S. Treasury Department and helped lead an effort to investigate Alex Saab.
18:06It was my role in the Treasury to do everything that I could to help protect the U.S. financial
18:12system and to support our friends and our allies.
18:15In the case of Alex Saab, this is an individual who was abusing the international financial system and the things
18:22he was doing on behalf of Maduro were unconscionable.
18:26In 2020, Saab was arrested while on a business trip and eventually extradited to the U.S. on money laundering
18:33charges.
18:34He pleaded not guilty and was held in federal custody awaiting trial.
18:38Custodiado y esposado. Asà pisó suelo estadounidense, el presunto testaferro del presidente de Venezuela.
18:47At the same time, the Trump administration was stepping up the pressure on Maduro, charging him and members of his
18:54government with crimes, including corruption and drug trafficking.
18:57The U.S. Justice Department announced indictments of Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, and his top allies on charges of narco
19:06-terrorism.
19:06Attorney General William Barr said they conspired to flood the U.S. with cocaine and to loot their own country
19:13of billions of dollars.
19:16Sandy Gonzalez was one of the key investigators on the case.
19:19I was assigned to a special unit of DEA whose sole focus is to investigate international drug traffickers, money launderers,
19:31narco-terrorists, and corrupt officials.
19:33Venezuela has become, at least during the time that I worked there and was investigating the drug trafficking activity there,
19:40a really strategic location for cocaine trafficking organizations.
19:46All of these organizations essentially had a paradise where they could operate freely if they paid the right people.
19:57Prosecutors say for more than 20 years, Maduro led the Cartel of the Suns, using Venezuela's military, legislature, and courts
20:05to traffic cocaine into the U.S.
20:07The Cartel de los Soles is a name we did not come up with. It was a name that we
20:12heard while we were working in Venezuela.
20:14So it's a little bit complicated. Certain people have different ways of describing it.
20:20It could be described as a mafia of sorts, but it's definitely a group of individuals in Venezuela involved in
20:28the government that participate in the drug trade, facilitate the drug trade, profit from the drug trade, and allow the
20:34drug trade to flourish in their country.
20:37In the summer of 2025, the Trump administration began referring to the Cartel de los Soles as narco-terrorists and
20:46launched a wave of controversial strikes against alleged drug boats that would kill more than 100 people.
20:54Today in the Caribbean, another boat incinerated by a U.S. missile. The 10th U.S. strike since early September
21:01on what the administration calls drug boats, including three strikes this week alone.
21:05The U.S. military killed two people clinging to wreckage in the sea after they survived an initial airstrike on
21:12their boat.
21:13The U.S. government offered little to no information about those strikes. They claimed those on board were narco-terrorists.
21:25If you're a terrorist organization poisoning your people with drugs coming from a drug cartel, it's no different than Al
21:30Qaeda.
21:31They offered no evidence to back up those claims.
21:37Venezuela is facing the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years.
21:48It was very apparent early on that the goal here was to pressure Maduro into resigning. It was a fig
21:55leaf, the idea that this was a counter-narcotics mission, and it was really about forcing regime change in Venezuela.
22:04We've reached the point at which there was too big a buildup in the Caribbean for the president to back
22:09off.
22:10It was clear to me there's going to be a winner and a loser. Is it going to be Trump
22:15or is it going to be Maduro?
22:24Once in U.S. custody, prosecutors unsealed a new indictment against Maduro.
22:30They accused him of involvement in a vast drug trafficking conspiracy with the Venezuelan military.
22:37As it states in the indictment, it is a conspiracy, so he had a role in that conspiracy.
22:42And according to our laws, everyone involved in the conspiracy is essentially as culpable as the next.
22:49The country is now being led by Delcy Rodriguez.
22:51In your view, is she someone who can dismantle those criminal networks that have blossomed under Maduro?
22:59That's going to be interesting to see.
23:00I don't think that you could just remove Nicolas Maduro from that equation and leave everything else status quo and
23:08expect things to change.
23:17Within days of Maduro's capture, the AP got a tip about Delcy Rodriguez's own connections to drug trafficking allegations.
23:27Wow.
23:30My colleague Jim Mustian from New York got some information about possible criminal investigations in the United States to Delcy
23:38Rodriguez.
23:39Let me take a look.
23:41Okay, let's see what this is.
23:46What does this mean?
23:49Oh, she's got a Natus number.
23:51A Natus number is a big deal.
23:54I have to understand this better.
23:57We gotta call Jim.
23:58We gotta find out what all this means.
24:02Oh my God, that's a huge...
24:04Okay.
24:08Wow.
24:08Okay.
24:10I mean, this 11 cases.
24:12Great work.
24:13Great work.
24:14Okay.
24:15Um, let's find a place to work.
24:17I need to work.
24:17Oh, thanks.
24:23I'm gonna tell...
24:24I'm gonna call my editor.
24:28Hey, can I patch in, uh, Jim?
24:31Good afternoon.
24:33Her entry in the DOJ's, um, and DEA's file on her says, quote, involved in drug trafficking and gold smuggling
24:42projects.
24:44The language this source described Delcy as a priority target, but the quote, um, that we could probably use if
24:53we needed to, I mean, this is, I'm just going through my messages with the source, is listed as a
24:58priority target.
24:59Um, that doesn't mean that, um, for example, Jim mentioned earlier drug trafficking and gold, you know, that doesn't mean
25:06that she herself was, was doing that.
25:09It could just mean that she was mentioned in connection to that drug trafficking and gold trafficking investigation.
25:15Now, what her role is, if any, you know, would be, you know, something that you would only learn in
25:20an indictment, and she has not been indicted, as far as we know.
25:23This is a major surprise because even though I think Venezuela is long been a target-rich environment for the
25:31DEA and other agencies, you know, she somehow, somewhat uniquely, had escaped, um, being criminally charged herself.
25:39The AP obtains documents claiming, quote, the DEA has amassed a detailed intelligence file on Rodriguez, cataloguing her known associates
25:50and allegations ranging from drug trafficking to gold smuggling.
26:06The Venezuelan government dismissed the story as fake. Nobody from the Trump administration would agree to an interview. But Secretary
26:14of State Rubio was questioned about the allegations in a Senate hearing.
26:20The DEA has reportedly identified Delce Rodriguez as a significant actor in the drug trade. Do you agree with that?
26:27Well, first of all, on the first point, I would say she's not indicted the way Maduro and his wife
26:31were.
26:32I understand.
26:32I'm not going to speculate about it in newspaper articles and what law enforcement is working on. If, in fact,
26:36there were such an investigation, you know, I mean, that's something that we would speculate on.
26:40Suffice it to say that this was not a normal system. We all should stipulate to that, okay?
26:45That regime, as everyone understood, was held together by corruption. The glue that kept people together was not loyalty to
26:50Maduro.
26:51It was the fact that these five guys had five separate oil fields that were assigned to them. These people
26:55had drug rounds.
26:56No, I understand that.
26:57But that's going to be clear.
26:57I'm not defending the regime. In fact, I'm concerned that we haven't really changed the regime enough.
27:03I acknowledge that we are dealing with, as I told you, with individuals that have been involved in things that
27:07in our system would not be acceptable to us in the long term.
27:11By no means is our policy to leave in place something permanent that's as corrupt as you've described.
27:16We are in the transition and stabilization phase. We are just acknowledging reality.
27:20And that is, you have to work with the people that are in charge of the elements of government.
27:25One of those people was Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdaro Cabello, who was charged with drug trafficking in the same indictment
27:32as Maduro.
27:34Diosdaro Cabello, who is the Minister of the Interior, in control of police, secret police, intelligence, is a criminal.
27:42He's under indictment for drug trafficking. He's the chief thug of the regime.
27:47He's the guy who's really in charge of these prisons and their torture chambers.
27:55And if there is a democratic Venezuela, he will have no place in it except maybe in prison.
28:01So he could be a spoiler. He could be a break.
28:11Despite Cabello still being in place, Venezuelans were looking for signs the regime would ease its repressive rule and take
28:19steps towards democracy.
28:22Five days after Maduro's capture, the government made a dramatic announcement.
28:28The Venezuelan regime announced Thursday it would release a significant number of political prisoners in the coming hours.
28:34Caracas announced it would release a large number of detainees in what officials referred to as a goodwill gesture.
28:42But on the ground, there was no sign of a large number of releases.
28:47Libertad! Libertad!
28:49On the night of the announcement, relatives gathered outside El Rodeo prison.
28:55El Rodeo, which is outside Caracas, is significant because it holds the largest number of prisoners considered to be detained
29:07for their political beliefs.
29:09Just four prisoners had been freed so far. The families were praying for more.
29:36They have been moving political prisoners from one facility to another, to another, to another.
29:41So at this point, you know, it's a bit of a guess, you know, who's where.
29:47Well, I mean, it seems well short of hundreds of people, right?
29:51I mean, this doesn't seem, at least for now, much of a gesture of reconciliation.
29:56It is possible that more people than we know of have been released.
30:01We just haven't seen them.
30:03We just haven't seen them before.
30:07We just haven't seen them before.
30:08Hello?
30:09How are you?
30:11Venezuelan lawyer Alfredo Romero, who works from a secret location, was also monitoring the releases.
30:19There are expectations that people will be free, you'll see.
30:22But at night, it's rare.
30:23Obviously, it's a number that they don't tell us, or a list that they don't tell us.
30:27So we don't know who they're going to take.
30:29His human rights group tracks the numbers of political prisoners.
30:33Something that worries me is that in the past, they have released like 100 political prisoners,
30:39and then in one month or two months, they have actually incarcerated other 100 political prisoners.
30:46That's what I have been calling the revolving door effect, or the revolving door of repression,
30:53using political prisoners as a way to intimidate the population.
30:57The land on the earth, give us our bread every day.
31:03Forgive us.
31:03The freedom of political prison is like a first step before the first step,
31:09because the first step is the dismantling of the repression system.
31:13That's the first step.
31:20From the start, President Trump was pressed on the issue of Venezuela's political prisoners.
31:25Are you going to demand that Del C. Rodriguez let opposition figures return or free any political prisoners?
31:31We haven't gotten to that yet.
31:33Right now, what we want to do is fix up the oil, fix up the country, bring the country back,
31:37and then have elections.
31:41In those early days, the president's focus was on oil.
31:47President Trump invited a group of oil businessmen to the White House, a variety of profiles.
31:53The large players like Exxon, Conoco and Chevron were there.
31:56So we're going to discuss how these great American companies can help rapidly rebuild Venezuela's dilapidated oil industry
32:04and bring millions of barrels of oil production to benefit the United States, the people of Venezuela, and the entire
32:11world.
32:12If you're talking about the massive projects that need to be invested in to rebuild the Venezuelan oil industry,
32:20we're talking about $100 billion in investment in a decade.
32:24These types of investors, they want long-term horizons.
32:30Francisco Monaldi is an expert on the Venezuelan oil industry.
32:35Exxon was not enthusiastic at all and basically said that the country was uninvestable under the current circumstances.
32:42We first got into Venezuela back in the 1940s.
32:46We've had our assets seized there twice.
32:50And so you can imagine to reenter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we've historically
32:57seen here
32:57and what is currently the state.
32:59Companies do not care if a country is democratic or not.
33:03They care about the rule of law and respect over their contracts and stability.
33:08The issue in the case of Venezuela is that I think it's unlikely that they will get all those conditions
33:14without democracy.
33:19Trump pushed Delcy Rodriguez to relax state control over the oil sector and make it more attractive to U.S.
33:26investment.
33:27She signaled a willingness to comply.
33:47Delcy Rodriguez has been portrayed as someone eager, for example, to work with American oil companies.
33:53So what, in your view, is her long game?
33:56I think we should ask ourselves, what would I do or you do if you were Delcy Rodriguez?
34:04What can I get away with?
34:06Do the Americans want me out immediately? No.
34:09What do they seem to want most of all? Oil.
34:12Okay, I can deal with that. That doesn't undermine my staying power in office.
34:17They want some prisoners out. We can start doing that. We'll do it slowly.
34:23Maybe we can get away with that. Maybe we survive all of this.
34:31A week after the capture of Maduro, the vast majority of political prisoners remained behind bars.
34:40Regina Garcia Cano and AP photojournalist Ariana Cubillos were heading to a prison in San Francisco de Llare, an hour
34:48south of Caracas.
34:51So we are waiting for the third day in a row outside a prison, but so far they've released no
34:59more than 20.
35:00What is happening in the periodism? Wait or take photos?
35:05Maximum prudence and courage.
35:07After hours of waiting, a car pulls out of the prison gates.
35:12They were honking their horn. People were applauding.
35:17So we followed the car.
35:20The car stopped about a half a mile away from the prison.
35:27And we found Diogenes and three relatives, including his mother, right at the intersection.
35:46His family believes he was detained because he shared a video on social media.
35:52He was 17 at the time.
36:14The news about Maduro's capture hadn't yet reached Diogenes and his fellow inmates.
36:21Do you know that Maduro is not president?
36:23Yes.
36:28I'm happy.
36:31Do you know anything else?
36:32No, no.
36:33He captured the United States here in the country.
36:35A week ago?
36:36In an operation.
36:38He is in a court in the United States.
36:42I'm happy, happy.
36:44Yohannes had been arrested in 2024, along with many others from the political opposition.
36:52Maduro had been under pressure from the Biden administration to allow free and fair elections.
36:57I think what Biden saw was an opportunity to try something new in Venezuela, to reengage with Maduro, to talk
37:05about elections, to talk about sanctions, to talk about immigration.
37:09Both sides would make concessions.
37:12Maduro agreed to release Americans being held in Venezuelan jails and promised to hold democratic elections.
37:21Our focus was on getting the Americans out to create an opening for us to have a dialogue, but making
37:26clear that U.S.-Venezuela relations would only improve after there was actually a free and fair election.
37:33Biden promised to ease sanctions and even agreed to free the indicted Maduro money man, Alex Saab.
37:55It was a hard decision.
37:57The Department of Justice did not like the release of Alex Saab.
38:01I wish that we hadn't had to release Alex Saab, but I think the President of the United States has
38:07to make really tough calls, and his number one priority is the safety of Americans.
38:10You know, one of the things that happened in the Biden administration that I was unhappiest with was the release
38:18of Alex Saab.
38:19Now, that's an example of taking pressure off the regime.
38:23Has Maduro committed to you that he will allow all candidates to run in the next presidential election?
38:31I've not spoken to Maduro. He's committed to our—we've laid down specific requirements for a democratic election. He's agreed to
38:40all of them.
38:40And thank you.
38:49Maduro's commitment would quickly be put to the test. In the election, he was being challenged by the popular opposition
38:56leader, Maria Corina Machado.
39:03In Venezuela, voters took to the polls Sunday for a presidential primary election to decide who will challenge President Nicolás
39:10Maduro next year.
39:14Maria Corina Machado decided to run for the democratic opposition primary.
39:21Almost two million went to vote. Maria Corina Machado got 92 percent of the vote.
39:27David Smolansky is one of Machado's advisers.
39:31People were not only electing a candidate. People were electing a leader.
39:38But Maduro's government banned her from running in the presidential election.
39:42Saruja endorsed someone else as her proxy.
39:46Mundo Gonzalez was a diplomat during the democratic years of Venezuela.
39:51But he was not known.
39:54And when Maria Corina Machado did the rally with the Mundo Gonzalez poster, everyone knew in that moment who Mundo
40:00Gonzalez was.
40:01What will happen in a matter of weeks?
40:06The authoritarian regime of Nicolas Maduro is facing one of its toughest challenges in years.
40:12If the polls are correct, the vote could mark the end of President Nicolas Maduro's 11-year grip on power
40:18of the crisis-stricken country.
40:20Let's win! Let's win! Let's win!
40:33The 28th of July of 2024, there was a sort of silent hope.
40:39I felt that that was the definitive, decisive day for a political change in Venezuela.
40:47And I think that was reflected from the minute one of that day.
40:51Those images that we saw from the morning of people coming to the electoral elections.
40:55It was an indication of where things were going.
41:01At midnight of the 28th of July, the President of the National Electoral Council gives a result.
41:07And he announced as a winner to Nicolas Maduro.
41:11Nicolas Maduro Moro, 51.20%.
41:17Un resultado que no coincide con la evidencia que recolectó la oposición de las actas de las máquinas de votación
41:25que se usaron ese dÃa.
41:27Hubo protestas prácticamente en todo el paÃs.
41:31Hugo Chavez's statues were taken down by the people.
41:37Maduro knew he lost.
41:38They reacted with the most brutal repression.
41:44More than 2,000 innocent Venezuelans were kidnapped, illegally detained, disappeared.
41:54Some of Machado's allies were arrested and would end up in Eloquete prison.
42:00I think Maduro did cross a Rubicom after the election because nobody could argue that he was a legitimate leader
42:07at that point.
42:07What you're learning from this is there is no possible way through peaceful protests or through elections to get rid
42:18of this criminal gang.
42:20Maria Corina Machado went into hiding.
42:24In late 2025, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and escaped from Venezuela.
42:30The Nobel Committee says that they awarded the prize based on Machado's leadership and promotion of democratic rights for Venezuelans.
42:37This is a blow for President Trump.
42:39He's been pressuring leaders in Norway to award him the prize.
42:45Hours after Maduro was captured, President Trump was asked about Machado.
42:51Yes.
42:51Is the U.S. aware of the location of opposition there in Machado and have you been in contact with
42:56her?
42:56No, we haven't.
42:58I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader if she doesn't have the support within
43:02or the respect within the country.
43:04She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect to be the leader.
43:06President, is it possible at the U.S.?
43:08I thought in that moment that when transitions begin, they are complicated.
43:13And again, especially at the beginning, it could be messy.
43:17Who are we?
43:18Venezuela!
43:19We want freedom!
43:21Freedom!
43:22Freedom!
43:23Freedom!
43:25Freedom!
43:25Freedom!
43:27Leonardo!
43:28We're at the White House...
43:29right now, Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader, is meeting with President Trump.
43:35It's a hugely important meeting for her and the Venezuelan opposition.
43:39They are completely marginalized from the negotiations over Venezuela's future.
43:44I think no one has any doubt that the legitimacy, the credibility, and the popularity is on
43:52Maria Corina Machado.
43:54If you had elections right now in Venezuela, she would win overwhelmingly.
44:01After a private meeting with the President, Machado emerged to crowds of supporters.
44:08I presented the President of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize.
44:17Machado calling the gesture a recognition for his unique commitment with Venezuela's
44:27freedom.
44:28The next morning, she met with reporters.
44:31What's your message to the President and to the United States when U.S. policy is still
44:37to support the Chavismo government that still exists in Caracas?
44:41This has nothing to do with a tension or decision between Delcy Rodriguez and myself.
44:52This is about a criminal structure that is the regime and the mandate of the Venezuelan people.
45:00I have no doubt that President Trump, his administration, and the people of the United States support democracy, justice, freedom,
45:11and the mandate of the people of Venezuela.
45:17Why align Delcy Rodriguez and the remnants of the Maduro regime and not with Machado, who has the support of
45:23the Venezuelan people?
45:24Well, if you ever remember a place called Iraq, where everybody was fired, every single person, the police, the generals,
45:33everybody was fired.
45:34And they ended up being ISIS.
45:37Instead of just getting down to business, they ended up being ISIS.
45:40So I remember that.
45:41But I'll tell you, I had a great meeting yesterday by a person who I have a lot of respect
45:46for.
45:47And she has respect, obviously, for me and our country.
45:51And she gave me her Nobel Prize.
45:54But I'll tell you what, I got to know her.
45:57I never met her before.
45:58And I was very, very impressed.
45:59She's a really, this is a fine woman.
46:03But for now, Trump would leave Machado on the sidelines, without a commitment about a future role for her in
46:10Venezuela.
46:21Meanwhile, on the ground in Caracas, Delcy Rodriguez continued trying to shore up her own precarious position.
46:28Delcy Rodriguez is walking a tightrope.
46:31On one hand, she needs to rally her base.
46:37Remind them that they're still trying to bring Maduro back.
46:43On the other, she's facing the U.S.
46:47And she knows that she must meet many demands.
46:52She's in a tough position, for sure.
46:56In late January, she signed a law giving foreign oil companies greater freedom to operate in Venezuela.
47:04President Trump quickly eased sanctions on the country's oil sector.
47:21This is an absolute betrayal of what Hugo Chavez wanted for the Venezuelan oil sector.
47:27He will be absolutely shocked.
47:29This is absolutely dismantling all the oil framework that he created that gave full control over the oil sector to
47:38the government.
47:42It was a win for the Trump administration.
47:46The thing I worry about most regarding Venezuela is today, us.
47:51I think that if American policy is to push in a reasonable, sensible manner toward a restoration of democracy, they
48:02will be able to do it.
48:03And what I really fear is some kind of deal in Washington that leaves this regime in place permanently as
48:11long as they're willing to do what we want on oil.
48:15This hour, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said to answer questions from senators on the Foreign Relations Committee.
48:22Testifying in the Senate, Marco Rubio acknowledged the regime's actions.
48:27The authorities there deserve some credit.
48:29They have passed a new hydrocarbon law that basically eradicates many of the Chavez-era restrictions on private investment in
48:36the oil industry.
48:37It probably doesn't go far enough to attract sufficient investment, but it's a big step from where they were three
48:42weeks ago.
48:42So that's a major change.
48:45He continued to urge patience with the transition.
48:47One of parts of the transition phase, or the recovery phase, is beginning to create space for different voices inside
48:54of Venezuelan politics to have an ability to speak out.
48:58Part of that is the release of political prisoners.
49:00They are releasing them probably slower than I would like them to, but they are releasing them.
49:08I think there's a chance that Marco Rubio pulls this off.
49:10I want to recognize that, that he may be able to actually get this where a year from now there's
49:14a democratic transition.
49:15But I think there are also many more scenarios in which this can go horribly sideways.
49:20The end state here is we want a, we want to reach a phase of transition where we are left
49:25with a friendly, stable, prosperous Venezuela, and democratic, in which all elements of society are represented in free and fair
49:33elections.
49:34We're not going to get there in three weeks. It's going to take some time.
49:39As of now, Nicholas Maduro and his wife have pleaded not guilty, and remain in U.S. custody, awaiting trial.
49:47And there are reports that his former operative, Alex Saab, may be joining them.
49:52In the last hours, it has been said that Alex Saab has been detained in Venezuela.
49:58The news has not been confirmed officially by the Venezuelan government.
50:02Suddenly, he could have an extradition request.
50:06And this does mark a new level of collaboration between President Trump and Interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
50:14Que Delcy Rodriguez termine extraditando a Alex Saab a los Estados Unidos, me parece, digamos,
50:22una señal muy fuerte de que, bueno, de que Delcy Rodriguez está dispuesta a hacer muchas cosas con tal de
50:27preservar el poder
50:29en medio de esta negociación con los Estados Unidos.
50:35At the same time, there is growing hope for Venezuela's political prisoners.
50:44Around 400 have been released so far.
50:47And at the end of January, Delcy Rodriguez made an historic promise.
50:52Muy buenas tardes para todos los presentes que han garantizado la estabilidad del Estado venezolano en situaciones de adversidad.
51:04Outside Helicoide, the regime's notorious prison, friends and relatives of those detained listened in.
51:11Quiero hacer un anuncio para Venezuela.
51:15Que hemos decidido impulsar una ley de amnistÃa general que cubra todo el periodo polÃtico de violencia polÃtica de 1999
51:26al presente.
51:36Delcy Rodriguez had once helped Maduro suppress and imprison opponents.
51:40Now she was promising a general amnesty that could free opposition leaders, journalists and activists.
51:50And to close Helicoide.
52:05Just this week, more than 30 political prisoners were released, including allies of Maria Corina Machado.
52:16But one was quickly re-arrested, and many are still being held.
52:20It remains to be seen how far the remnants of Maduro's regime will go.
52:25No tenemos miedo! No tenemos miedo! No tenemos miedo!
52:35Go to pbs.org slash frontline for more reporting from the Associated Press.
52:40Many, many questions were left unanswered.
52:45Venezuelans want answers to those questions.
52:48She denounced it as a kidnapping, violation of the United Nations Charter.
52:52And see more of our coverage of Venezuela.
52:55Connect with Frontline on Facebook and Instagram,
52:58and stream anytime on the PBS app, YouTube, or pbs.org slash frontline.
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53:32For more on this and other Frontline programs, visit our website at pbs.org slash frontline.
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53:55Frontline's Crisis in Venezuela is available on Amazon Prime Video.
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