There is no intention to keep his memory alive": how the figure of Maduro is fading in the new Venezuela by Delcy Rodríguez

The narrative surrounding Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan political landscape has undergone significant shifts, particularly in how figures are referenced publicly following the U.S. military operation in January and subsequent events like the earthquakes. Delcy Rodríguez, as interim president, refocused her public discourse toward praising the U.S. President rather than mentioning former President Maduro or Hugo Chávez during high-level international addresses. This shift is contextualized by changes within the Venezuelan government, including appointments in the cabinet and the promotion of specific laws and agreements with the United States. Furthermore, official communications show a trend away from designating Rodríguez as "acting president" toward using titles like "president," which some analysts suggest serves to gradually erase the need for elections. Beyond public rhetoric, there are tangible actions, such as the removal of visual symbols associated with previous governments in public spaces, and institutional purges involving figures linked to the former regime.

The observable pattern suggests a strategic recalibration of political messaging designed to reframe accountability and establish a new legitimacy for the current leadership structure, often by drawing a sharp delineation between themselves and the deposed regime. The deliberate omission of Maduro in international addresses, replaced by emphasis on the U.S. relationship, functions as a form of discursive erasure, an attempt to redefine the locus of political focus away from internal Venezuelan conflicts and toward external geopolitical alignment. This linguistic subtlety mirrors physical changes—the removal of symbols and the shifting nomenclature—which serve to create a new reality that requires no direct confrontation with the previous state’s legacy. The shift from personal memory (naming Maduro) to institutional narrative (focusing on "reborn" slogans and restructuring government roles) demonstrates an attempt to establish a new symbolic order, which is complicated by ongoing internal dissent, evidenced by figures like Nicolás Maduro Guerra's public alignment with Rodríguez. This process challenges the notion of a purely forgotten figure, instead showing how political reality is actively constructed through memory management and symbolic replacement. The essential tension lies in whether this calculated forgetting can truly achieve historical transmutation or if it merely shifts the battleground without resolving underlying systemic conflicts.