Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez on Tuesday got down to the business of running the country, under pressure from Washington to give access to Caracas’s oil while trying to keep supporters of ousted Nicolas Maduro on her side.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.

Key European allies of Ukraine and top US envoys met in Paris on Tuesday and were expected to announce Washington would lead ceasefire monitoring if a peace deal is reached to end Russia’s war against its neighbour.The summit of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” is focused on security guarantees Ukraine requires in the event of a ceasefire to deter further Russian aggression. A draft statement seen by AFP before the talks started said the United States would lead a “ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism” with European participation if a peace deal is agreed.Washington would commit to “support” a European-led multinational force — deployed in Ukraine after any ceasefire — “in case of” a new attack by Russia, the draft statement added. Representatives of 35 countries, including 27 heads of state or government — including the leaders of Britain, Canada, Germany and Italy — took part in the summit, which the French presidency said would demonstrate the “alignment” between Washington, Kyiv and European allies on security guarantees for Ukraine.US-led diplomatic efforts to reach a deal have ramped up in recent weeks. But this meeting is being held amid relentless fighting in Ukraine almost four years into Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.  The capture by US forces of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has unsettled some European countries and added a potential new element of transatlantic uncertainty.US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner travelled to Paris for the meeting of the coalition, launched last year by France and Britain. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Elysee Palace for a one-to-one meeting before the summit.- ‘Align’ European and US positions -Some members of the coalition aim to send a multinational force to Ukraine to deter any future Russian attack if the war sparked by Russia’s February 2022 invasion ends.But Ukraine and Russia remain at odds over territory in a post-war settlement.Russia has also repeatedly opposed any NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine to monitor a halt in hostilities. European leaders have been at pains to not firmly condemn the US military operation to grab Maduro, while expressing discomfort at the implications for international law.Before leaving for Paris, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the aim of the meeting was to “align the European and American positions”.He said “only that kind of pressure has a chance of forcing the Russians to take the issue of a ceasefire, and then peace, seriously”. He warned, though, against expecting final decisions to be made in Paris.An adviser to Macron on Monday said the meeting was the culmination of efforts launched after Trump’s arrival at the White House to prevent “the United States from abandoning Ukraine”.To lay the groundwork, security advisers from 15 countries, including Britain, France and Germany as well as representatives from NATO and the European Union, gathered in Kyiv over the weekend, with Witkoff joining virtually.- ‘Difficult conditions’ -Kyiv said in recent days a deal was “90 percent” ready. But Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal.Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow and said it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday said diplomatic efforts were being waged “under difficult conditions”. “Russia is showing little willingness to negotiate, President Zelensky is struggling to maintain unity among Ukrainians, and transatlantic cooperation has changed profoundly,” he wrote in a letter to lawmakers, a copy of which AFP obtained on Tuesday.”We want a ceasefire that preserves Ukraine’s sovereignty. We therefore want such a ceasefire… to be backed by security guarantees from the US and Europe.”burs-fff-sjw-sw/ah/tw