Florida Republican calls interim Venezuelan president ‘necessary evil’

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) on Sunday called Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez a “necessary evil” until the Latin American country can have free and fair elections.

Salazar defended President Trump’s decision to meet with Rodríguez in New York City, while Trump is present for the annual United Nations General Assembly. She told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” that the president has created a “new blueprint” on “how to deal with dictators.”

“Just like [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio said recently, that there was recovery trends and then transition,” Salazar said. “I do know that the United States is in the business to bringing liberty and democracy to our neighbors and transition will occur. So Delcy is just a necessary evil, for now, to stabilize.”

She added that Trump “liberated” Venezuela’s people “from socialism, from disaster, from misery.”

“Now, I’m sure that, soon, we’re going to be able to create new and fair elections,” the Florida Republican continued. “These international observers –– and once again, we will have done our job, to bring democracy and freedom to the Western Hemisphere.”

Rodríguez, previously Venezuela’s vice president, was elevated to her interim role after a surprise U.S. military raid captured President Nicolás Maduro in January to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S.

She has condemned Trump and the U.S. for Maduro’s capture, but she has also praised the relationship that developed over exporting oil out of her oil-rich country, set down in a recent major deal.

Trump has praised Rodríguez as someone who wants to “make Venezuela great again.” In April, the administration lifted sanctions on her, removing Rodríguez from the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals List. She was added to the list in 2018 for allegedly weakening Venezuela’s democracy.

Salazar has called out Rodríguez before, but recently she spoke out against the reported federal detention of exiled Venezuelan journalist Luis Galeano in Miami. The Venezuelan government stripped Galeano’s citizenship due to his criticism of the regime, and his U.S. asylum application has been pending for seven years.

She urged the administration that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “enforce the law and deport dangerous individuals, but do not treat political exiles like criminals.”

Salazar is running against Democratic candidate Eliott Rodriguez in the state’s 27th Congressional District, which she was first elected to in 2020. The district includes parts of Miami and is home to one of the highest foreign-born populations of any House district.