According to AP records, the acting president of Venezuela has been on the radar of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) since at least 2018. In 2022, she was even labeled a “priority target,” a designation reserved by the agency for suspects believed to have a “significant impact” on the drug trade, but she was never publicly accused of any criminal wrongdoing.

Ms. Rodriguez “was on the rise, so it’s not surprising that she might become a high-priority target with her role,” said Kurt Lunkenheimer, a member in the firm’s White Collar Defense & Investigations group and a former federal prosecutor in Miami who has prosecuted several cases related to Venezuela. “The issue is when people talk about you and you become a high-priority target, there’s a difference between that and evidence supporting an indictment,” he added.

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