Venezuela Politics Explained, Who Holds Power in 2026

GUIDES · VENEZUELA

Venezuela politics in 2026 is a government without an election. Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice-president, runs the country under a court order.

Washington licenses its oil trade and sponsors talks with part of the opposition.

For US readers this matters directly. The people named below decide who signs oil contracts, who leaves prison and when Venezuelans may vote again.

This guide sets out who holds which lever as of October 2026.

How Power Changed Hands in January 2026

On Saturday 3 January 2026, US forces captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas. The same day, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (TSJ) ordered Rodríguez, then executive vice-president, to take over.

The ruling told her to “assume and exercise, as acting president, all the powers, duties and faculties” of the presidency. The court did not declare Maduro’s “absolute absence”, which under the constitution would trigger a new election within 30 days.

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Instead it described a “forced absence”, a category the constitution does not name. Article 234 limits a temporary stand-in to 90 days, extendable once by 90 more.

The legal monitor Acceso a la Justicia argues that 180 days is the maximum. On that count, her mandate expired in early July.

By early August, government communications had quietly dropped the “(E)” for encargada, or acting, from her title, Infobae reported. The ruling camp now presents her simply as president.

Washington and the opposition still call her government interim.

Maduro and Flores are in custody in New York. On Thursday 8 October 2026, prosecutors added a charge of conspiracy to commit torture.

The Executive: Delcy Rodríguez and Her Cabinet

Delcy Rodríguez, born in 1969, is a lawyer and long-time member of the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). She was serving as Maduro’s executive vice-president when he was captured.

In January, the regional daily Diario de Los Andes reported that her move up left the vice-presidency vacant. As president she has reshaped the cabinet.

The biggest change came on Wednesday 18 March 2026, when she replaced the defence minister of more than a decade. The ministers who matter most to foreigners, as of October 2026, are these:

• Diosdado Cabello, minister of interior, justice and peace. A PSUV veteran, he oversees the national police forces.
• Gustavo González López, defence minister since 18 March 2026. He is a general and twice headed the SEBIN intelligence service.
• Félix Plasencia, minister of foreign relations and international trade. He led the delegation to a United Nations regional forum in the Dominican Republic in October.
• Vladimir Padrino López, agriculture minister since Monday 13 April 2026, after more than eleven years at defence.
• Héctor Obregón, president of the state oil company PDVSA. On Friday 9 October he said PDVSA aims to end 2026 producing 1.3 million barrels a day.

Rodríguez met President Donald Trump in New York in September. On Wednesday 2 September she said presidential elections would come when Venezuela is “prepared”.

At the United Nations later that month she again promised elections but set no date.

The Ruling Party and the National Assembly

The PSUV, founded by Hugo Chávez, is the core of the ruling Great Patriotic Pole alliance. It stands for the Bolivarian socialist model of state control over oil and a large welfare network.

The single-chamber National Assembly has 285 seats, up from 277, after an election on Sunday 25 May 2025. The extra eight seats were assigned to Guayana Esequiba, the territory Venezuela claims from Guyana.

The new assembly was installed on Monday 5 January 2026. Jorge Rodríguez, the president’s brother, was re-elected its president.

Pedro Infante became first vice-president and Grecia Colmenares second vice-president.

A small group of opposition figures took their seats. They include the former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, Stalin González, Henry Falcón, Antonio Ecarri and Pablo Pérez.

Nicolás Maduro Guerra, the ousted leader’s son, was also sworn in as a deputy.

The assembly has been the regime’s main tool for legal change in 2026. On Thursday 19 February it unanimously passed the Amnesty Law for Democratic Coexistence, which Rodríguez then signed.

The Military, Police and Intelligence

The Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) remain the pillar of the state. Generals hold cabinet posts, including agriculture.

The FANB publicly backed both the amnesty law and the oil accord with Washington.

González López’s appointment put an intelligence specialist in charge of the armed forces. At his appointment, the state broadcaster teleSUR said he would also oversee the Presidential Honour Guard and military counter-intelligence, DGCIM.

He is under US and EU sanctions.

His predecessor, Padrino López, had held the defence post since 24 October 2014. teleSUR calls it the longest continuous tenure in the republic’s history. When the US and Venezuela signed their oil accord in September, González López said it was “not a subordination”.

Cabello’s interior ministry runs the national police. He has called complaints that María Corina Machado is being kept out a “show”.

On Wednesday 30 September he told her: “let her come”.

Courts, Prosecutors and the Electoral Council

The Supreme Court (TSJ) is led by Caryslia Rodríguez. Infobae describes the court as controlled by the ruling camp.

A reform in May 2026 changed the law to increase the number of judges.

The prosecutor’s office changed hands in 2026. Tarek William Saab, attorney general under Maduro, resigned on Wednesday 25 February.

On Thursday 9 April the assembly appointed Larry Devoe as attorney general and Eglée González as ombudswoman.

Devoe has sought a softer image. In September he ordered official accounts to remove posts showing unconvicted detainees.

He also met a Human Rights Watch delegation. The legal NGO Acceso a la Justicia criticised a lack of transparency in both appointments.

The past still weighs on the courts. On Tuesday 6 October, the former justice Bárbara César Siero said she was coerced into signing rulings that barred Machado from office.

She said three relatives were detained to pressure her. Her account has not been tested in court.

Renewal of the National Electoral Council (CNE) has not yet been agreed.

The Opposition: Machado, Figuera and the Dialogue

The opposition is split between two tracks. One is led by María Corina Machado of Vente Venezuela, a liberal, pro-market party.

She won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize and remains outside the country as of October 2026.

Edmundo González Urrutia, the retired diplomat who ran for Machado’s coalition in 2024, also speaks from abroad. On Thursday 8 October he said the new US charges against Maduro put Venezuela’s human rights abuses “in the foreground”.

The second track is a US-backed dialogue. Its opposition side is led by Dinorah Figuera, who has presided over the National Assembly elected in 2015 since January 2023.

Washington regards that body as the last freely elected institution. Figuera returned to Venezuela in June after about eight years abroad.

Talks began in Caracas in August, with Jorge Rodríguez acting as government coordinator. The second round closed on Friday 25 September.

It created a jurists’ committee to vet Supreme Court candidates and eased blocks on news websites.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio received Figuera in Washington on Friday 9 October. He has said Venezuela needs free and fair elections and urged electoral reform after the meeting.

A third round was due to start in mid-October.

Governors, Prisoners and Rising Figures

Venezuela’s 23 states each have an elected governor. In Zulia, the oil state on Lake Maracaibo, Governor Luis Caldera announced a plan in October to stabilise power supply and boost oil activity.

Political prisoners remain the most sensitive issue. The rights group Foro Penal counted 322 as of 5 October 2026, down from 344 in mid-September.

Cabello has said releases are not a subject for the dialogue table.

Several figures are rising. Jorge Rodríguez combines the assembly presidency with the negotiating role.

Dinorah Figuera has Rubio’s open backing. Larry Devoe and Héctor Obregón are new faces whose standing now depends on results.

Washington, Sanctions and the OFAC Status

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) still lists the Venezuela-related sanctions programme as active. On Tuesday 18 August 2026 it added a British Virgin Islands company under Executive Order 13850, one of the main Venezuela orders.

On Wednesday 1 April 2026 OFAC removed Delcy Rodríguez from its sanctions list. Business now runs through general licences.

On Monday 28 September OFAC amended licence 46E on Venezuelan oil, 48D on supplies and 49B on contingent investment contracts.

Other licences cover PDVSA (52C), gold and minerals (51D) and official Venezuelan missions in the United States (53). Licence 5Z, issued on Wednesday 16 September, governs the PDVSA 2020 bond from 5 November 2026.

What It Means for US Readers

For investors and bondholders, the decision makers are in Washington as much as in Caracas. Any deal with PDVSA or a ministry needs to fit a current OFAC general licence, and those change every few weeks.

For US companies, the same people who ran the Maduro state still sign permits. Due diligence should check each counterpart against the OFAC list on the day of a transaction, not once.

For travellers and the Venezuelan diaspora in the United States, nothing in the legal set-up guarantees an election date. The pace of prisoner releases, website unblocking and Machado’s return are the clearest signals of whether the opening is real.

What Prediction Markets Say

Bets on Polymarket give Rodríguez a 93.5% chance of being de facto leader at the end of 2026 (12 October, 9:56 a.m. ET). About US$409,000 has been traded on that event in total.

A separate contract gives a 10.5% chance that a presidential election is scheduled by 31 December 2026. That event has about US$636,000 in total volume.

Traders price a 33.5% chance that Machado enters Venezuela by 31 December, 2 points lower over the past day. That event has seen about US$6.6 million traded.

Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.

What Is Not Known

No date has been set for a presidential election. There is no public timetable for renewing the electoral council or the Supreme Court.

It is not known whether Machado will be allowed to return, or whether the ban on her holding office will be lifted. Who would succeed Rodríguez if she left office has not been settled in public.

The full content of US commitments to the interim authorities has not been published. Nor is it known how long the general licences will stay in place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the president of Venezuela in 2026?

Delcy Rodríguez has exercised the presidency since a Supreme Court order of 3 January 2026, after US forces captured Nicolás Maduro. Washington calls her government interim, and no presidential election date has been set as of October 2026.

Who leads the National Assembly?

Jorge Rodríguez, the president’s brother, was re-elected head of the 285-seat National Assembly on 5 January 2026. He also coordinates the government side in the US-backed dialogue with the opposition.

Who controls Venezuela’s military?

Defence Minister Gustavo González López, a general and former head of the SEBIN intelligence service, has led the armed forces since 18 March 2026. He replaced Vladimir Padrino López, who is now agriculture minister.

Where is María Corina Machado?

Machado, leader of Vente Venezuela and winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, remains outside Venezuela as of October 2026. She and her party say the government is blocking her return.

Is Venezuela still under US sanctions?

Yes. The Treasury’s Venezuela-related sanctions programme remains in force, but most business runs through OFAC general licences, the latest amended on 28 September 2026. Delcy Rodríguez was removed from the sanctions list on 1 April 2026.

When will Venezuela hold elections?

No date has been set. Rodríguez has said elections will come when Venezuela is prepared, and Polymarket gave a 10.5% chance on 12 October 2026 that one is scheduled by 31 December.

Sources: OFAC, Venezuela-Related Sanctions, https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/venezuela-related-sanctions; OFAC, recent action 1 April 2026, https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20260401; OFAC, recent action 28 September 2026, https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20260928; OFAC, recent action 18 August 2026, https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20260818; Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, https://www.tsj.gob.ve/; Foro Penal, https://foropenal.com/; teleSUR, defence minister appointment, https://www.telesurtv.net/delcy-designa-gonzalez-lopez-ministro-defensa/; teleSUR, National Assembly installed, https://www.telesurtv.net/instala-asamblea-nacional-venezuela-maduro/; teleSUR, Amnesty Law, https://www.telesurtv.net/asamblea-venezuela-unanimidad-ley-amnistia/; Infobae, presidential title, https://www.infobae.com/venezuela/2026/08/03/el-chavismo-dejo-de-identificar-a-delcy-rodriguez-como-encargada-en-medio-del-debate-sobre-la-legitimidad-del-ejercicio-de-la-presidencia-en-venezuela/; Infobae, second dialogue round, https://www.infobae.com/venezuela/2026/09/26/el-chavismo-y-la-oposicion-de-venezuela-continuaran-el-dialogo-hacia-la-transicion-democratica-en-octubre/; NTN24, Rubio and Figuera, https://www.ntn24.com/noticias-actualidad/marco-rubio-se-reune-dinorah-figuera-washington-abordar-transicion-politica-venezuela-657134; Correo del Caroní, former justice’s complaint, https://correodelcaroni.com/pais-politico/exmagistrada-del-tsj-denuncia-coaccion-para-firmar-inhabilitacion-de-maria-corina-machado/; RNV, foreign minister in the Dominican Republic, https://rnv.gob.ve/el-canciller-felix-plasencia-arribo-a-republica-dominic/; 2001online, PDVSA production targets, https://2001online.com/nacionales/pdvsa-estima-una-produccion-de-1-5-millones-de-bpd-en-2027-202610915240; all accessed 12 October 2026.