Venezuelan Acting President Boosts Economic Recovery and Demands End of Sanctions
The Acting President Delcy Rodriguez defended the understanding with Washington and conditioned the dialogue with the extremist opposition to the total cessation of sanctions.
July 16, 2026 Hour: 11:24 pm
Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez confirmed on July 16 that the Government is executing international financial negotiations to overcome the illegal economic blockade and stabilize the exchange market.
During an extensive interview with Spanish journalist Javier Negre, director of La Derecha Diario, at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas this Thursday, Acting President Delcy Rodriguez outlined her administration’s commitment to international cooperation and the urgent need to repeal the coercive measures that punish the country.
During the interview, the Acting President explained that the Government is actively restoring the country’s presence in the international banking system, which will allow both public and private banking institutions to fully recover their global correspondence channels.
Restoring these commercial relations is essential to stabilize the exchange market, which has faced severe disruptions due to unilateral coercive measures. Consequently, this financial normalization will facilitate daily commercial operations and provide economic stability to all productive sectors of the Venezuelan population.
Economic Recovery Under Sanctions
The energy sector reactivation serves as the main driver of the macroeconomic recovery of the South American country.
Acting President Rodriguez confirmed that current oil production stands at 1.2 million barrels per day, a figure that reflects the gradual recovery of the country’s main industry despite the persistent blockade. In this sense, the Rodriguez stressed that her commitment responds to peace and the economic well-being of the nation, and that her struggle aims to dismantle the blockade that punishes the entire Venezuelan people.
This economic expansion is complemented by a sovereign strategy to formalize mineral exploitation across the national territory. Following a deployment on June 9 in the Las Claritas region, the State is reorganizing local production, which is already reflecting positive results in Venezuelan households, where food consumption grew by almost 10% during May. To protect these advancements, Rodriguez detailed that the Government will implement citizen audits to supervise the money entering the country through foreign investments.
The consolidation of national stability also requires overcoming the external political aggressions that have harmed Venezuelan society. The Acting President condemned the economic damage caused by extremist opposition leader María Corina Machado, who repeatedly demanded a blockade against the country. This aggressive strategy, she explained, directly affected the welfare of workers, entrepreneurs, and bankers who sustain the national productive apparatus.
“You cannot ask to hurt the people,” Rodriguez warned, asking the opposition to abandon this strategy.
According to this, Rodriguez urged the radical opposition to abandon their destabilizing plans and correctly interpret the domestic political reality after the U.S. attacks of January 3. However, she conditioned any dialogue with the extremist opposition on the total and definitive cessation of economic sanctions that asphyxiate the Venezuelan people.
Sovereignty Defended
Acting President Rodriguez also firmly rejected any foreign attempt to annex Venezuela to the United States, reminding that the nation possesses over two centuries of sovereignty won on historic battlefields.
The Acting President addressed Venezuela’s historical sovereignty, rejecting any notion of the country becoming a “state 51” of the United States, as President Trump had expressed. In this sense, she reaffirmed that Venezuela will continue to defend its right to self-determination while seeking constructive channels of international cooperation.
The Venezuelan Acting President acknowledged the tension of governing between two opposing pressures: the most radical bases question her for negotiating with the White House, while the new geopolitical reality pushes Caracas toward that same negotiating table. She defined this delicate balance as an essential exercise in diplomacy to prevent force from dictating the future of the Bolivarian Republic.
That conviction, she explained, crystallized after the events of January 3, which resulted on the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. On that day, the nation understood that dialogue is the only viable route to resolve controversies, while force leads nowhere, she affirmed. From that reading of history, Rodriguez declared that the policy of understanding with Washington seeks to prioritize collective interests over partisan positions.
Reconstructing the events of that critical day, the Acting President revealed that the authorities’ greatest concern was to prevent a military uprising or a disproportionate armed response capable of igniting a conflict of catastrophic proportions. Following this, Rodriguez paid tribute to the young Venezuelan soldiers who lost their lives during the U.S. attack, emphasizing that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces and citizen security bodies acted with conscience, determined to guarantee stability and avoid an additional tragedy.
Following this, the Acting President affirmed that the path of diplomacy, although complex and full of pressures, is the only one capable of guaranteeing a future of peace, stability and prosperity for all Venezuelans, especially the children and the most vulnerable sectors of society.
Author: Laura V. Mor
Source: Venezuelan Presidential Press / La Derecha Diario
Telesur: Latin America and Caribbean.
