Florida Delegation Weekly Briefing: Venezuela, Sanctuary, LYNX

Florida lawmakers are keeping a close watch on Venezuela, even as Washington’s foreign policy spotlight drifts toward Iran and Cuba. The message from the state’s congressional delegation is consistent: reshuffling names inside the same regime does not constitute progress.

Months after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest on drug trafficking charges, his Vice President Delcy Rodríguez continues to serve as acting president. This week, her government removed Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López and elevated intelligence chief Gustavo González López. Sen. Rick Scott, a Naples Republican, was quick to respond.

“Good to hear Vladimir Padrino López was removed from his position, but replacing one regime loyalist with another is NOT progress,” Scott posted. “If Delcy Rodríguez truly wants to collaborate with the United States, she must stop recycling the same corrupt and brutal insiders like Gustavo González López. The Maduro regime will NOT fool us. We are watching every step.”

The stakes for Florida are not abstract. According to the Migration Policy Institute, 49% of all Venezuelans living in the United States reside in Florida. That concentration has made the state’s lawmakers among the most vocal critics of the socialist government in Caracas, regardless of party. For communities in Miami-Dade and Broward, what happens in Venezuela reverberates directly here.

President Donald Trump has offered a notably warmer assessment of Rodríguez’s tenure. Earlier this month, Trump posted on Truth Social that Rodríguez “is doing a great job, and working with U.S. representatives very well,” adding that oil flow between the two countries was resuming and praising what he called growing professionalism between the nations.

Trump’s administration has argued that Maduro’s removal could pave the way for Venezuelan political refugees to return home. But that calculus is complicated so long as Rodríguez holds power. Many Venezuelan-Americans and human rights advocates say there is little incentive for refugees to return under a government they view as a continuation of the same authoritarian apparatus.

Florida Democrats have been particularly pointed. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Weston Democrat, made her position clear in January after Maduro’s arrest, calling for opposition figures Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado to assume control based on what the international community widely views as the legitimate 2024 election result.

“Delcy Rodríguez is a criminal, guilty of the same crimes against humanity as Maduro,” Wasserman Schultz posted. “We should be advancing the transition to democracy, not normalizing the same dictatorship that has tortured and murdered Venezuelans with impunity and continues their brutal persecution to this day.”

Republicans are pushing for accountability too, though some urge patience. Rep. Carlos Giménez, a Miami-Dade Republican, said in a CBS News interview this week that he wants a full government transition but acknowledged it will take time. Giménez pointed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a South Florida native, as the key figure steering U.S. policy and expressed trust in his approach.

The tension between Trump’s praise for Rodríguez and the skepticism of Florida’s congressional delegation reflects a broader friction inside U.S. policy toward Venezuela. The White House appears focused on near-term wins, including resumed oil flow and deportation cooperation. Lawmakers closer to the Venezuelan diaspora are pressing for something harder to achieve: genuine democratic transition.

For the nearly half-million Venezuelans who have built lives in South Florida, the distinction matters enormously. Many fled torture, poverty, and political persecution under Maduro. Seeing the same intelligence apparatus rebranded under Rodríguez while Washington talks about cooperation is, for many, a deeply uncomfortable signal.

Florida’s delegation, at least the vocal majority of it, is not ready to accept cosmetic change as the real thing. Whether that pressure translates into policy will depend heavily on how Secretary Rubio navigates the competing interests of a White House looking for diplomatic wins and a South Florida community that has not forgotten who built the regime now asking for recognition.