How Delcy Rodríguez Went From Maduro Loyalist to Trump Proxy

Delcy Rodríguez, the acting president of Venezuela, conducts the nation’s business out of the Miraflores Palace, a 19th century neoclassical mansion in the heart of Caracas. Gilded portraits of Simón Bolívar and Hugo Chávez gaze down on the ornate halls. Birds chirp in the manicured gardens. An unusually tight security detail shadows Rodríguez’s every step. The caution is understandable: Not long ago, the U.S. sent a Delta Force unit into her predecessor’s residence on a nearby military base to seize the man she had served for years.Which may help explain Rodríguez’s careful manner. She speaks regularly with President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and her English is nearly flawless. Yet when she sits down with TIME for a rare interview with an American media outlet, she summons a translator. I suggest it would be easier to speak in English. “When I do interviews, I like to do them in Spanish,” she says.“I’m not sure that’s best for this one,” I say. “It is best for me,” she replies with a faint smile.It’s easy to understand her strategy. Speaking through an interpreter slows the conversation and gives Rodríguez greater control over the words that ultimately reach...