The Venezuela model for regime change
The Global Story
BBC
3.8 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nicolas Maduro, the deposed president of Venezuela, is due to appear in court in New York this week alongside his wife, Cilia Flores. The pair face charges of cocaine trafficking and possession of machine guns, which they deny.
Meanwhile in their home country, the Trump-approved interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has been making deals with the US government over Venezuela’s oil and critical minerals.
The BBC’s South America correspondent, Ione Wells, has been in Caracas to find out how much life has altered under Rodriguez’s leadership, and to what extend Donald Trump may see this regime change as a blueprint for US intervention elsewhere.
Producers: Sam Chantarasak, Valerio Esposito and Hannah Moore
Executive producers: Bridget Harney and James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez. Credit: Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | In Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, there are huge posters around the city with a slogan, |
| 0:13.0 | Los Ceremos de Vuelta. We want them back. The posters are calling for the return of the former |
| 0:20.0 | President, Nicholas Maduro, and his |
| 0:22.7 | wife Celia Flores. The two have been in U.S. custody since January, and they'll appear in court |
| 0:29.2 | in New York on Thursday. And yet, at the same time in Caracas, |
| 0:34.8 | Secretary, we've given the secretary of interior and, and, also responsible of all what has to do the economy energy, the U. States. The interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, welcomes U.S. officials like old friends. It's a great day to welcome you here today, to meet up Lord's Palace, to welcome |
| 0:57.5 | Secretary Bergam. There was a moment when people wondered if Donald Trump would try to do in Iran |
| 1:03.5 | what he's done in Venezuela. But that moment has gone. Venezuela is a unique case. Almost three |
| 1:10.6 | months on from Nicholas Maduro's ousting, |
| 1:12.9 | we go inside Venezuela to find out how Trump's first attempted regime change is going. |
| 1:19.8 | From the BBC, I'm Tristan Redmond in London. And today on The Global Story, |
| 1:24.7 | what is the so-called Venezuela model? And is it working? |
| 1:33.7 | I'm Ione Wells, the BBC's South America correspondent, and I'm based here in Sao Paulo, |
| 1:39.3 | but I've just got back from a two-week trip to Venezuela, which is the first time I've been since |
| 1:44.1 | 2024. So it was |
| 1:45.5 | very, very nice to be back. So you reported when you were in Caracas from a pro-government rally. |
| 1:52.7 | What was that like? And who did you speak to it? What did they tell you? |
| 1:55.4 | Yeah, that's right. It was interesting landing in Caracas, because when you arrive there, |
| 1:59.9 | it could seem like nothing's really changed. |
| 2:02.3 | There's still billboards of Nicolas Maduro everywhere in the airport. |
| 2:06.7 | And the day that I landed in Caracas was exactly two months after the US seized Nicolas Maduro. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.