US drops sanctions against acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez
The World
PRX
4.6 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 2 April 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The US lifted sanctions against acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez yesterday. It's the latest in a series of changes that began when President Nicolás Maduro was captured and brought to the US to face criminal charges. Also, Afghan refugees in India face challenges getting government benefits. Also, a conversation with novelist Sahar Delijani on the struggles of Iranians at home and abroad. Plus, we raise a glass to wine-making traditions around the world.
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| 0:00.0 | Bringing Venezuela in from the cold, it is a foothold in South America for the United States. |
| 0:10.7 | They don't see this as just like a short-term thing. They really see this as stabilization, and they want somebody who's friendly there. |
| 0:17.6 | I'm Marco Wurman. Also today, an Iranian writer reflects on U.S. and Israeli attacks on her homeland. |
| 0:23.4 | The current war is putting people in impossible positions between repression and foreign invasion. |
| 0:32.6 | Plus, the Democratic Republic of Congo is going to the World Cup. |
| 0:36.2 | Everybody went out to celebrate. We've been |
| 0:39.3 | waiting for this for 52 years. And our National Geographic Globetrekker joins us to talk about |
| 0:45.8 | booze. When somebody invites you into their flat and they bring out a bottle, you're being let |
| 0:50.7 | into this circle. It sort of doesn't even matter what you're doing. Today, you're on the world. |
| 0:57.4 | This is The World. I'm Marco Wurman. Carolyn Beeler is on assignment. Before Iran, there was Venezuela. |
| 1:04.2 | At the start of the year, President Trump ordered Operation Absolute Resolve, which removed the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, from his country |
| 1:12.0 | in the dead of night. Then in February, Trump joined Israel in a war against Iran, and Venezuela |
| 1:17.5 | went out of focus. We begin today checking back in on the country now led by Maduro's |
| 1:22.5 | vice president, Delci Rodriguez, with heavy U.S. involvement David Smildi is a professor at Tulane University, |
| 1:29.5 | whose expertise on Venezuela spans three decades. I started by asking if he even considers what's |
| 1:34.7 | happening there to be a political transition. I think you can say that it is a political transition |
| 1:41.4 | with a small P. What we've seen is that Desioregis has consolidated her |
| 1:45.8 | presidency. She's changed approximately half of the ministers and put her own people in there, |
| 1:51.7 | and most of them are sort of more modern, in some cases more moderate. No, in some cases, |
| 1:56.7 | not so moderate. So whether this is going to be a democratic transition is, I think, still quite |
| 2:01.3 | unclear. Just yesterday, the U.S. lifted sanctions against Delsey Rodriguez. What options could that |
| 2:06.8 | give her in her government that were not there before? Well, it's a gesture of goodwill. It also |
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