Is Venezuela sliding into chaos? A coup is also possible

The formal answer is, as Jutarnji List reports, Delsey Rodriguez, the former vice president, who was appointed acting president by the Supreme Court the day after President Nicolás Maduro was taken to the USA.

However, as stated, the reality is "a little" more complex.

Political scientist Salvador Santino Regilme from Leiden University in the Netherlands says that "the real power in this case lies within the ruling coalition, and not in one person in one position."

Four pillars of coalitions

That coalition has four pillars. Rodriguez holds executive power and is the diplomatic face to Washington. Her brother Jorge Rodríguez controls the parliament.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López keeps the army, and Diosdado Cabello, the interior minister, controls the police and armed street militias known as "Colectivos."

Venezuelan military strategist Jose Garcia described Cabela as "the most violent and unpredictable element of the Venezuelan regime."

He is also under US indictment for narco-terrorism, so Washington is offering a $25 million reward for information leading to his arrest. However, he performs his ministerial duties freely.

The International Crisis Group (ICC) warned in January that "the Rodriguez could be ousted at any moment when armed factions decide to do so."

Dependence on America

Oil money unravels the power structure better than anything else. Payments for Venezuelan oil do not go directly to Venezuela - they go through channels overseen by the Americans and are deposited into a restricted account in Qatar.

Venezuela must submit monthly requests for approval of expenses, such as public sector salaries.

The ICC summed it up in one sentence: "Delsy Rodriguez now leads a government working with Washington under threat of further military action if it does not meet US demands."

The opposition, whose candidate, Maria Corina Machado, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was described by Trump as a person who "does not have enough supporters or respect within the country", remains politically marginalized. However, a May poll shows that 82.6 percent of Venezuelans would vote for Machado, and only 4.5 percent for Rodriguez.

Reconstruction is a big challenge

Recovering from a devastating earthquake is normally a complex and long-term undertaking for any country, but for Venezuela, as it stands today - without an elected president, with oil revenues under US supervision, an economy just emerging from years of hyperinflation, and with 7.9 million Venezuelans who have left the country since 2014 - it is an almost insurmountable challenge.

CNN concluded in an analysis that the earthquake is "a key test for Trump's conception of foreign aid" and that Venezuela "remains in terrible shape after years of sanctions that have eroded the health system and infrastructure - the very thing that must work now to save lives."

The multi-year reconstruction will cost tens of billions of dollars and requires a sovereign government with democratic legitimacy, fiscal capacity and an administrative apparatus that Venezuela - no matter who formally led it - currently does not have.