Washington – The president of the United States, Donald Trump, will meet with Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, in New York on Tuesday (22), a senior U.S. official said on Friday, in what will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since Washington ousted former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.
The meeting between Trump and Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president, will take place on the sidelines of a reception that the Republican president will host, said the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, to reporters on a teleconference.
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“The president will host a reception for the leaders of the United Nations General Assembly. There, he will take part in a private discussion with Venezuela’s interim president Rodríguez,” Waltz said. He did not provide details about what they might discuss.
The Venezuelan Ministry of Communication, responsible for all media inquiries to the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, the United States and Venezuela signed an energy agreement that would allow the United States to take partial control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, betting that American companies could help revive the South American country’s battered energy sector.
The leader of the Venezuelan opposition, María Corina Machado, faces a growing dilemma about when to return to the country to rally support, amid Trump administration reticence regarding her return.
Machado left the country at the end of last year to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, after having lived virtually in obscurity since the closely contested 2024 election. She had sought to win Trump as an ally long before Maduro’s ouster. But since the ouster, Trump has repeatedly expressed support for Rodríguez.
