According to a leaked audio from a meeting of Chavista leaders, Rodríguez stated that US forces gave them "15 minutes to respond" and comply with the demands or they would be killed. Rodríguez explained that in the initial communications after the president's capture, they were told that Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores had been killed, not kidnapped, so she and the other Chavista leaders would have been willing to "share the same fate."
The leader described these actions as constant threats and blackmail, and justified her response and cooperation with Washington as a strategic prudence to preserve peace, rescue the "hostages," and maintain political power. Analysts point out that these leaked statements reflect the internal crisis of the Venezuelan government after Maduro's fall and raise doubts about the official narrative of the events.