Arya News - As Venezuela enters a new political phase, we look at how the government keeps functioning.
After transferring between 30 and 50 million barrels of crude to the US, Venezuela has received $500m from its first oil sale under a US-brokered agreement.
The deal, reached last month, provides a lifeline for Venezuela’s struggling economy. However, the government does not control the proceeds. Instead, funds are deposited into a restricted account in Qatar, subject to US approval, to pay public sector salaries and essential services.
This new agreement came amid major political changes following the US military abduction of President Nicolas Maduro. On January 15, acting President Delcy Rodriguez proposed reforms to Venezuela’s hydrocarbons law, aiming to attract foreign investment by easing restrictions that had favoured nationalisations for the past 25 years.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright also said on Friday that he plans to visit Venezuela soon to meet “all the leadership” and assess oil and gas operations, as Washington signals it intends to oversee Venezuela’s oil sector for the foreseeable future.
As Venezuela moves forward amid these political changes, we examine how the government sustains its operations and the challenges it currently faces.
What is the context, and what has been happening in Venezuela?
One month after the US military action known as Operation Absolute Resolve, Venezuela is navigating a volatile political and economic landscape. The operation, conducted on January 3, 2026, resulted in the abduction of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. According to Venezuela’s Ministry of Defence, the extraction was deadly, resulting in at least 83 deaths .
In the aftermath, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice declared Maduro’s capture a “forced absence” and appointed Rodriguez as acting president. While Rodriguez condemned the US action as an “illegal kidnapping,” she has since signalled willingness to cooperate with Washington, including proposing reforms to attract foreign investment in the oil sector.
She has also framed herself as shaping a new order while maintaining tight control over the implementation of reforms.
Domestically, in late January, Rodriguez also announced a mass amnesty bill aimed at releasing political prisoners and plans to repurpose the notorious El Helicoide prison into a community centre.
Critics, however, argue that these measures may not address Venezuela’s structural problems, raising questions about the interim government’s long-term legitimacy and direction.
Who are the key people running the Venezuelan government?
In Venezuela, power remains concentrated in a “civic-military” alliance.
While Rodriguez holds formal executive authority, analysts like Salvador Santino Regilme, a political scientist who leads the international relations programme at Leiden University in the Netherlands, say that in this case “real power is best understood as residing within a governing coalition rather than a single office-holder.”
Here are some of the key figures forming her government:
Jorge Rodriguez (Head of the National Assembly): The interim president’s brother controls the legislature. He was the architect behind the fast-track approval of the new energy reforms. “Rodriguez controls the legislative agenda and its outcomes,” said Carlos Pina, a Venezuelan political analyst.
Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez [Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters]
Diosdado Cabello (Interior Minister): He represents the hardline ideological wing of Chavismo. But he is under pressure: With a $25m US bounty on his head for narco-terrorism charges, he faces an ultimatum from Washington to cooperate with the transition or face arrest.
Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello speaks [Marco Bello/Reuters]
Vladimir Padrino (Defence Minister): He has held the military chain of command together, staying in his post for more than 11 years despite a US drug trafficking indictment and a $15m bounty for his capture.
Venezuela’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez [Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters]
Pina also noted that one actor is often overlooked: the business sector.
“Many business leaders who are still operating inside the country have rallied behind Rodriguez, even before she assumed the interim presidency,” Pina explained. “This group has positioned itself as a kind of shadow power,” he added.
Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, flanked by Jorge Rodriguez and Cabello [File: Miraflores Palace/Handout via Reuters]
How is the current government paying its bills?
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves , estimated at 303 billion barrels, more than five times those of the US. As such, oil remains one of its main sources of income.
“Venezuela’s fiscal survival still depends primarily on hydrocarbons, because oil remains the only sector capable of generating rents at scale,” Santino told Al Jazeera.
The current financial control mechanism operates through several stages, from oil extraction to the final disbursement of funds.
Payments are not sent directly to Venezuela. Instead, they go through US-supervised channels and are deposited into a restricted account in Qatar, to stop creditors from seizing the money to recover Venezuela’s estimated $170bn in external debt.
The US also oversees the distribution of these funds. Venezuela must submit budget requests for specific uses, such as paying teachers, police and healthcare workers. Once approved, the funds are transferred to the Central Bank of Venezuela and then to private local banks.
“Venezuela will submit every month a budget of ‘this is what we need funded.’ We will provide for them at the front end what that [oil] money can be used for,” Rubio detailed the plan during an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January.
“I understand it’s novel, but it’s the best we could come up with in the short term,” Rubio added.
INTERACTIVE - Venezuela oil fields poster-1756997699
However, experts have raised concerns about the implications of this arrangement.
“Right now, given the control … even though you have a facade, you have an interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, and other members, the one who really has control is Donald Trump,” Jose Manuel Puente, a professor at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administracion in Caracas, said.
“Venezuela is a state under tutelage right now by the US. The US took control of all its income,” he added.
Some US officials have also criticised the arrangement. Democrat Lloyd Doggett said Rubio’s testimony “raised more questions than answers”
“There are currently no safeguards to ensure the Rodriguez family does not use the revenue to pay off Maduro’s allies,” Doggett said.
And by following this scheme, “[Trump] is unlawfully refusing to honour debts owed to US institutions … and [he] instead appears to be rewarding his donors,” he added.
Are there any other sources of government revenue?
The government has tried to diversify its revenue streams beyond oil.
The country possesses the largest official gold reserves in Latin America. Venezuela’s reserves are approximately 161.2 metric tonnes, worth more than $23bn in today’s market value.
The country is also believed to hold some of the most significant untapped gold resources, but official data is outdated. Large parts of gold production happen through informal or illegal mining networks, especially in southern states like Bolivar.
According to the government in 2025, Venezuela produced 9.5 tonnes of gold in 2025.
“In recent years, gold has increased its share, just like some small export areas, such as the case of tropical fruits, or the case of shrimp,” Puente explained.
“There are some sectors that generate some income, but it is still completely asymmetric in favour of oil,” he added.
How are things looking inside the country?
>With more than 7.9 million people requiring urgent humanitarian assistance and approximately 56 percent of the population living in extreme poverty, according to the United Nations and the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, the administration faces immense pressure to implement effective solutions.
Nationals are struggling with wages that are too low to cover basic living costs.
“I am a housewife. I don’t work. My two older children work, but they earn salaries that are not enough,” Zulma Clavo, a Petare resident in Caracas, told Al Jazeera.
“My son works as a motorcycle taxi driver and has to take risks just to survive, and my daughter earns the minimum wage, and it’s still not enough. When we go grocery shopping, we realise we have to put things back because we don’t have enough money,” she added.
Experts say there will be some economic relief as oil production increases.
“And that, evidently, is going to be a significant flow [of funds]. The thing is, who will finally decide how and in what that large amount of money is invested will be the Americans, and that is the point of difference,” Puente said.