Retired Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax Sunday that Venezuelans are unlikely to accept Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as a long-term leader after the capture and arrest of President Nicolas Maduro.
Holt, however, told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend" that he expects "a lot of back-channel communications" with Rodriguez as celebrations spread across Venezuela and the regime tries to project strength.
"She’s going to rise up and try to look like she’s strong and in control of the country so that the millions of people that are now celebrating across Venezuela don’t decide that the regime is now so weak that they can just go take it," Holt said.
President Donald Trump on Saturday claimed that Rodríguez was cooperating after Maduro's arrest, but she publicly condemned the operation and called for Maduro's release, revealing a clear gap between the United States and Caracas.
Holt said the path ahead may involve "reestablishing the true president of Venezuela, President Gonzalez," referring to opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, and he expressed concern about comments suggesting a "second wave" of operations.
"I hope that doesn’t include ground troops and a whole bunch of other types of invasion kind of things," Holt said, while adding that so far the operation appeared "extremely clean and surgical."
During the segment, President Trump was played on air saying the U.S. was "not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to," and that U.S. forces had been involved "last night at a very high level."
Trump said the U.S. intended to ensure Venezuela "is run properly" and that the effort was "not doing this in vain."
Open-source intelligence analyst Ryan McBeth, also on Sunday's show, said a large-scale troop deployment would be costly, and suggested Rodriguez could serve as a temporary leader if the U.S. uses leverage such as control over food imports and oil revenue to push the country toward elections.
Asked whether Venezuelan protesters would accept Rodriguez, Holt said they would not.
"No, they won’t accept that," he said.
Holt said Rodriguez might be allowed to serve in an interim role, but only as a transitional figure.
Holt also described conditions on the ground as "a bit chaotic," saying security forces may display "strength, maybe some brutality," even as he said they are losing their grip.
"What you see is this regime, the national police, the army are slowly but surely losing their grip," he said, accusing regime leadership of cartel ties and urging a careful transition plan that allows Venezuelans to "pick their own person."
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