In Venezuela’s tense political scene, Jorge and Delcy Rodríguez blend faith, politics, and irony in their public personas.
Newsroom (20/02/2026 Gaudium Press ) When Venezuela’s National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez quipped, “I don’t like Latin because it reminds me of priests,” during the February 12 debate on amnesty for political crimes, the remark landed like a spark in dry grass. It was, at first glance, a throwaway line—a jab at formality, a wink to secular modernity. But in the charged atmosphere of Venezuelan politics, every phrase is freighted with meaning.
Rodríguez’s words came as his sister, Delcy Rodríguez, had just been sworn in as president on January 5—two days after the dramatic detention of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. authorities. His mockery of Latin, especially in reference to in dubio pro reo—a legal maxim well-known even to first-year law students—was not just rhetorical flair. It was a gesture of defiance, a deliberate move to bolster his family’s political stature during a moment of national volatility.
Yet, for all his apparent disdain for clerical cues, Jorge Rodríguez has hardly avoided religious imagery. During the first debate of the same bill, he held up a photograph of Hugo Chávez, crucifix aloft, urging his fellow Chavistas to emulate the late leader’s supposed forgiveness and “Christian example.” No priests, perhaps, but apparently a crucifix was fine—especially when wielded in Chávez’s revolutionary style.
The Paradox of Faith and Power
This inconsistency is almost emblematic of contemporary Venezuelan politics, where ideology bends to expedience and symbolism trumps substance. Rodríguez’s call during the February 5 session—to “be true Christians, even if we don’t profess a religion,” and to “embrace one another in forgiveness”—elicited applause from the pro-government bloc. It also revealed a calculated identity: not strictly agnostic, yet not beholden to any church authority. For an experienced politician, proclaiming Christ without the constraints of the clergy serves both populism and personal brand.
It wasn’t the first time Rodríguez took aim at the Catholic hierarchy. In 2017, he accused the Church of acting as “an extreme right-wing political party.” And still, when Venezuela celebrated the canonization of José Gregorio Hernández—a physician-beatified folk hero—he was quick to resonate with the national sentiment. The saint’s elevation, he declared, marked a time “to defend peace” and “build a future full of love and solidarity.” Few Venezuelan leaders miss such symbolic opportunities.
Delcy Rodríguez and the Divine Beyond
While Jorge flirts with selective Christianity, his sister’s spiritual leanings are even more unorthodox. Though raised in a Catholic household, Delcy Rodríguez has shown fervent devotion to the Indian guru Sai Baba—a figure both venerated and controversial. Her pilgrimages to the ashram at Prashanti Nilayam are well-documented.
In October 2024, the ashram itself reported Delcy’s expressions of joy: “Being in the divine presence of Bhagavan [Sai Baba] gives her a deep sense of calm and tranquility.” Her own words favored mysticism over doctrinal faith. “Every time I thought something was going to happen, Baba was there. He is always with us, teaching us,” she said in a speech at the spiritual center.
For Delcy, spirituality seems both personal and political. When fears rose that she might face the same fate as Maduro if she resisted American pressures, she declared, “My destiny is decided only by God.” It was a statement loaded with defiance—and ambiguity. Which god, exactly? The Catholic creator of her youth, or the “Divine Presence” she sought in India?
Faith Without a Church
In the Rodríguez siblings, Venezuela sees not secularism but syncretism: a collage of borrowed faiths, symbols, and devotions stitched together with political instinct. They speak of peace, forgiveness, and divine will—yet stand apart from the institutions that preach them. This is not unbelief; it is belief reshaped to power’s measure.
In today’s Venezuela, where saints are invoked and spirits courted amid economic collapse and political fracture, such eclectic devotion is not just theater—it is strategy. Faith may be mocked, borrowed, or bent, but it remains central to the performance of authority.
So perhaps the Rodríguez siblings do believe—just not always in the same god.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Aciprensa
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