The regime is no longer defending Maduro because cooperating with Washington is now more valuable
Chavista propaganda apparatus has reduced Maduro mentions by 90% in official statements, with murals removed and public references nearly eliminated. Economic survival now depends more on US cooperation than loyalty to Maduro, who faces prosecution in New York courts.
- Maduro mentions in official statements dropped by more than 90 percent
- Direct Miami-Caracas flights resumed last month
- Delcy Rodríguez is negotiating energy agreements with US and European firms
- Maduro faces prosecution in New York courts
Former CIA station chief claims Venezuelan leadership is systematically erasing Nicolás Maduro's public image to facilitate economic cooperation with the US under Delcy Rodríguez's direction.
Rick de la Torre, who once ran the CIA's station in Caracas and now works as a political operative for Tower Strategy, made a striking claim on Wednesday, June 10th: Venezuela's ruling chavista establishment has begun systematically erasing Nicolás Maduro from public view. The purpose, he argued, is to smooth the way for closer ties with Washington and to stabilize the economic arrangements being negotiated by Delcy Rodríguez, who has assumed an interim leadership role.
De la Torre's assertion rests on observable facts. Murals bearing Maduro's image have been painted over. Billboards have come down. The state propaganda apparatus, which for years presented Maduro as the rightful heir to Hugo Chávez's revolutionary project, has gone quiet. In official public statements, according to de la Torre, references to Maduro have dropped by more than 90 percent—a dramatic shift for a figure who dominated Venezuelan political discourse for nearly two decades.
What makes this pattern significant, in de la Torre's reading, is what it reveals about the regime's priorities. The chavista leadership, he suggests, has concluded that their political and economic survival now depends far more on cooperation with the United States than on loyalty to a deposed leader currently facing prosecution in New York courtrooms. This is not sentiment or ideology speaking anymore—it is calculation. The old revolutionary fervor has given way to pragmatism.
De la Torre framed the developments as the opening moves of a genuine political transition. "The regime is no longer defending Maduro because cooperating with Washington is now more valuable than loyalty toward a leader sitting in a New York court," he wrote on X. The statement leaves little room for ambiguity. He is describing not a temporary tactical shift but a fundamental reordering of where power and resources flow within the chavista structure.
The timing aligns with observable economic activity. Delcy Rodríguez has been accelerating meetings with American and European energy companies, mining firms, and petroleum operators. Direct commercial flights between Miami and Caracas resumed last month. Energy agreements are being signed. The commercial and diplomatic machinery that had seized up over two decades of confrontation is beginning to turn again. De la Torre sees these developments as confirmation of his thesis: the window is opening, and it is opening because the regime has made a choice about where its future lies.
What remains unclear is whether this represents a genuine shift in power within the chavista apparatus or a more limited repositioning by a faction seeking to preserve itself. De la Torre's account does not address whether Maduro retains any meaningful support among hardliners, or whether his removal from public discourse reflects consensus or coercion. The narrative he presents is clean and linear—a regime recognizing reality and adjusting accordingly. The reality on the ground may be messier, with competing interests and unresolved tensions beneath the surface. But the direction of travel, at least as de la Torre reads it, seems clear: toward normalization with the United States, and away from the figure who defined Venezuelan politics for the past quarter-century.
Notable Quotes
Five months after US special forces removed Maduro, his own allies are erasing him— Rick de la Torre, former CIA station chief in Caracas
The regime is no longer defending Maduro because cooperating with Washington is now more valuable than loyalty toward a leader sitting in a New York court— Rick de la Torre
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
When you say the regime is erasing Maduro, are you describing a deliberate campaign or something more organic—people just moving on?
De la Torre is describing something deliberate. Murals don't paint themselves over. Propaganda apparatus doesn't go quiet by accident. This is coordinated.
But who's coordinating it? Is Delcy Rodríguez explicitly ordering this, or is it happening because people understand what's expected?
That's the question he doesn't quite answer. He's showing the pattern—the 90 percent drop in mentions, the removed billboards—but not the mechanism. It could be explicit orders. It could be everyone reading the room and adjusting.
And Maduro himself—is he aware this is happening? Is he complicit?
He's in New York facing prosecution. He's not in a position to stop it. Whether he knows or consents is beside the point. The machinery has moved on without him.
So this is really about the regime choosing the United States over its own founding figure?
Not over him as a person. Over him as a liability. He's become an obstacle to what they need now—which is access to American capital, energy deals, commercial flights. The old revolutionary loyalty doesn't feed anyone.
Does de la Torre think this actually works? Can you just erase a leader and move forward?
He seems to think it's already working. The flights are flying. The deals are being signed. Whether it holds long-term is another question entirely.