With Nicolás Maduro’s departure from power, the Chavista regime has transformed into a model of collective authoritarianism in Venezuela, which maneuvers with the aim of ensuring its survival. At the forefront are Delcy Rodríguez, Jorge Rodríguez, Diosdado Cabello, and Vladimir Padrino López, who work to prevent the arrest of the dictator from leading to the end of tyranny.
Venezuela Política y Sin Filtros spoke with Bernardo Henao Jaramillo, a lawyer and president of the association Únete por Colombia, about the Venezuelan situation where a kind of tetrarchy, made up of Rodríguez, Cabello, and Padrino, is exercising this new collective authoritarianism.
Thus, the Chavista regime is experiencing a reconfiguration to survive through military control, internal coercion, and the use of misleading narratives of reconciliation. An example of this is the release of political prisoners, which, in practice, is a maneuver for impunity and a strategy to lessen U.S. pressure.
Current Venezuelan Scenario
The Venezuelan scene at the beginning of 2026 is characterized by a precarious stability under international oversight. While Maduro’s extraction removed the visible head of narcoterrorism, the structural system of Chavismo remains intact and is in a process of mutation.
The international community and critical sectors warn that without a real justice mechanism, the country is headed towards a normalization of authoritarianism funded by oil revenue, where the perpetrators seek to transform into legitimate actors of the “new peace.”
Collective Authoritarianism in Post-Maduro Venezuela
The tetrarchy
As of now, the country is going through a critical phase of political reconfiguration following the extraction of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores on January 3, 2026. Contrary to initial expectations of a complete collapse of the Chavista regime, the system mutated towards a collective authoritarianism in Venezuela.
This tetrarchy, composed of the Rodríguez brothers—Delcy and Jorge—Diosdado Cabello, and Vladimir Padrino López, operates under a controlled transition supervised by Washington, structured in three phases that prioritize economic stability and the elimination of threats to hemispheric security over immediate political change.
The current regime uses mechanisms like selective releases and a controversial Amnesty Law—crafted by the perpetrators themselves—to dismantle social protest and impose a model of impunity under the narrative of “peace and reconciliation.”
Power Reconfiguration: From Autocracy to Tetrarchy
The removal of Nicolás Maduro—now imprisoned in New York—did not lead to an instant democratic change, but rather a strategic redistribution of roles within the Chavista elite, which operates now as a civic-military corporation.
Bernardo Henao Jaramillo describes the current landscape as the actions of the regime’s perpetrators working to maintain their power and warns that it seems the U.S. is encouraging a clash between them, a form of cannibalism, that could lead to their destruction.
ActorStrategic Role Specific FunctionDelcy RodríguezExecutive Power Dialogue with Washington and management of interim governance.Jorge RodríguezInstitutional Power Control of the parliament and management of the international media narrative.Diosdado CabelloInternal Coercive Power Territorial control, internal security, and police machinery.Vladimir Padrino LópezMilitary Cohesion Maintaining obedience within the Armed Forces.
The regime has not collapsed because it has adapted through a hybridization of authoritarian elements. The current actors, albeit illegitimate, act with de facto recognition from foreign governments due to geostrategic and energy interests.
Henao Jaramillo categorizes as a fallacy—the false argument with the appearance of truth—the discourse of Delcy Rodríguez, who tries to portray the impositions from Washington regarding the Hydrocarbons Law and the release of political prisoners as an achievement of her transitional management, which she claims to be democracy.
U.S. Strategy: Controlled Transition and the Three Phases
The U.S. administration, under the national security doctrine, has implemented the so-called “Rubio Plan,” named after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which seeks to eliminate threats—such as narcoterrorism and the Tren de Aragua—without forcing a sudden break that generates chaos or mass violence.
This process, as already mentioned, comprises three phases:
Phase 1: Stabilization and Damage Control
Avoid chaos, violence, and institutional breakdown following Maduro’s extraction. The aim is to maintain a governance bubble.
Phase 2: Institutional Restructuring and Economic Opening
Opening of the U.S. embassy in Caracas—headed by ambassador Laura Dog—return of oil companies, and massive investment.
Phase 3: Legitimization
A projected electoral process set for within 18 months to 2 years, aimed at seeking a negotiated exit or validation of new leaderships.
Justice, Releases, and the Amnesty Law
The Venezuelan regime—the new model of collective authoritarianism—has begun a process of “releases”—not full releases—of political prisoners, which, according to the Penal Forum, differs from the figures reported officially.
The tetrarchy strategically uses these releases in response to direct demands from the U.S. government, allegedly complying with proposals from Washington.
By releasing emblematic figures, the regime diminishes the weight of internal and external manifestos, thus preventing them from becoming engines for political activation.
An Amnesty Law is being promoted that Bernardo Henao Jaramillo warns is similar to the model of the FARC promoted in Havana, which would allow perpetrators—including figures like Tarek William Saab—to be included in the process of “reconciliation” without facing real justice.
If peace is desired, it is crucial that justice is enforced; based on what the Amnesty Law project suggests, an increasing and concerning impunity may arise, Henao Jaramillo emphasizes.
Normalization of Authoritarianism
There is a risk that the massive influx of oil resources and the stabilization of basic services—water, electricity, food—may create a sense of well-being that overshadows the absence of democratic freedoms.
Energy Interest: International oil companies have a critical interest in reactivating investment. It is estimated that Venezuela will receive more money in the coming months than in the last 20 years.
Adaptive Authoritarian Models: The system seeks to transform itself to survive. The new Chavista elites compete for contracts and power spaces, adapting to the pressure of the U.S. boot to ensure their permanence in the future state structure.
Internal Weaknesses and the “Cannibalization”
As previously mentioned, despite the facade of unity, the Venezuelan regime faces significant erosion in its bases and internal fractures. The decomposition of the PSUV is evident, for instance, in studies conducted across several states, where a significant part of the Chavista base expressed they do not wish to belong to the party nor support Delcy Rodríguez following Maduro’s fall.
This “cannibalization” process—referred to by Bernardo Henao Jaramillo—among Cabello, Padrino, and the Rodríguez brothers generates constant internal tension marked by the fear of betrayal, as the elite knows that if they divide, they all fall, as recognized recently by Diosdado Cabello himself.
In this context, figures like Tareck El Aissami, Álex Saab, and Samark López represent assets or liabilities in negotiations.