LEILA FADEL, HOST:
It's been a month since the U.S. raided Venezuela and captured authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro. But with Maduro's aides now in charge, the country still faces an uncertain future. Manuel Rueda in Caracas has the story.
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MANUEL RUEDA: At a military parade, hundreds of soldiers swear their allegiance to Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela's acting president.
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UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIERS: (Shouting in non-English language).
RUEDA: In the stands is General Vladimir Padrino, the head of Venezuela's armed forces. He hands Rodriguez a golden baton and a sword, a symbol of her new status as the nation's commander in chief.
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VLADIMIR PADRINO LOPEZ: (Non-English language spoken).
RUEDA: "This baton is in good hands now," Padrino says. One month after the U.S. removed Nicolás Maduro in a predawn raid on Caracas, former Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has moved quickly to consolidate power. She has made a handful of concessions that suggest a change in course, but true reform remains far from certain.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
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RUEDA: Last week, Rodriguez signed a bill that gives foreign companies greater rights over Venezuela's oil. She has liberated dissidents who were imprisoned under Maduro's rule. Freddy Guevara, a Venezuelan opposition leader who was forced into exile five years ago, says U.S. military pressure has been crucial.
FREDDY GUEVARA: I think the fear of what happened to Maduro happening to them is making them to make some moves. They know that they are not untouchable.
RUEDA: Venezuela continues to be an authoritarian state where the media is censored and dissidents are easily jailed. Guevara says that, like many Venezuelans, he wants new elections. But he warns that major reforms must come first, starting with the courts.
GUEVARA: We need to make some changes in the structure of power that blocks their capability to persecute people.
RUEDA: But if reforms move too fast, powerful figures inside the ruling Socialist Party could push back, and they control armed gangs and parts of the military.
PHIL GUNSON: It's the danger that if you put a foot wrong, then you end up with violent chaos, because people will resist if you try to do it too fast.
RUEDA: Phil Gunson is a Caracas-based analyst at the International Crisis Group. He says that members of the ruling party will still need to be given assurances.
GUNSON: For many of them, at an individual level, this is an existential issue. I mean, they genuinely fear that if they lost power, they would end up in jail.
RUEDA: For the moment, acting President Rodriguez has been slow-walking political reforms like the release of prisoners, and she has not talked about new elections or changes to Venezuela's judiciary.
JAMES STORY: What Delcy Rodriguez will do will be to do what they've always done, which is play for time.
RUEDA: James Story is a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.
STORY: Do just enough to make it look as if they are complying while they're waiting to see whether or not the midterm elections somehow create a problem for the president in exercising authority in Venezuela.
RUEDA: Story said that the U.S. will have to keep up military pressure if it wants to see more political reforms in Venezuela. One reason to do that is to make Venezuela more attractive for oil companies.
GUEVARA: These people that are still running the show in Venezuela, they are not reliable partners.
RUEDA: Guevara argues that democracy would serve both countries by curbing migration and keeping Venezuela from aligning with rivals like Russia or Iran. He's hoping that the Trump administration also sees things this way.
GUEVARA: For now, for the first time in our lives, there's a chance that we might have a peaceful negotiation that will get into a democratic transition. Of course, it's a weird case because it's a peaceful negotiation by coercion.
RUEDA: For NPR News, I'm Manuel Rueda in Caracas.
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