Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello carries a $25 million U.S. bounty for alleged drug trafficking and corruption, yet he recently met with U.S. Southern Command officials to coordinate earthquake relief. The meeting underscores a contradictory dynamic: Washington simultaneously hunts and engages Venezuela's second-in-command.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified in federal court that he was targeted in a 2017 assassination plot allegedly ordered by Cabello. Meanwhile, Florida Republicans Rick Scott and Carlos Giménez demand the Trump administration arrest Cabello, especially after his heated exchange with U.S. rescue workers deployed to Venezuela's northwestern coast.

Following the reported capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces, interim President Delcy Rodriguez relies on Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez to stabilize her government. Cabello has struck a defiant tone, threatening neighboring Trinidad and Tobago over potential U.S. military staging, while also confirming talks with Washington aimed at securing Maduro's return. A leaked recording reveals regime officials were given 15 minutes to agree to cooperate with the U.S. or face death.

Simultaneously, a military operation in Bolívar state is clearing armed groups from gold mines, coinciding with a U.S.-brokered opening of the sector to foreign investment.