What’s next for Venezuela

January 5, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

🎙️ The Voices & The Context

The Format: This daily news explainer podcast delivers rapid-fire analysis through host interviews with on-the-ground journalists and historians, dissecting the shockwaves from the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro amid global tensions and historical echoes. Urgent and analytical.
The Format: A host-driven interview format blending live reporting from Caracas with expert historical context.
The Key Players:
- Noel King (Host): Sharp, probing Vox journalist steering the conversation with poised urgency.
- Anna Vanessa Herrero (Guest): Freelance reporter in Caracas, offering raw, firsthand dispatches on street-level chaos and resilience post-capture.
- Greg Grandin (Guest): Yale historian and author of America's America, providing deep, critical perspective on U.S. interventionism in Latin America.

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What you'll learn

1 **(00:02) Maduro's Capture and Initial Fallout**
2 **(01:18) 🎙️ Introduction: Anna Vanessa Herrero, Freelance Reporter in Caracas**
3 **(01:39) Shock and Uncertainty in Caracas After Bombing and Maduro's Absence**
4 **(02:45) Street-Level Safety and Daily Life**
5 **(05:12) Trump's Statement on US Running Venezuela**
6 **(05:23) Profile of Delcy Rodríguez**
7 **(06:33) Delcy Rodríguez's Changing Rhetoric**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

President Trump says the US will "run Venezuela." Here’s what that looks like from Caracas, given the US's history in the region.

This episode was produced by Ariana Aspuru and Peter Balonon-Rosen, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact checked by Avishay Artsy, Andrea Lopez-Cruzado, and Kelli Wessinger, engineered by Patrick Boyd and hosted by Noel King.

A woman in Caracas holds a portrait of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a rally after he was captured by the U.S. military. Photo by APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images.

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