Venezuela’s acting leader promises elections at the ‘right moment’

In her first address to the United Nations General Assembly since taking office, Venezuela’s acting president promised elections this week and said the country’s people would decide the “right moment” to choose their leaders.

“I wish to state this very clearly before this General Assembly: Elections will be held in Venezuela,” Delcy Rodriguez said, adding that her government has started a “political dialogue with opposition sectors” to secure a “process based on equal conditions for all”.

Rodríguez said the Venezuelan people will determine the best time to get elections moving and assured the United Nations that, when the time comes, the country’s institutions “will be prepared to guarantee an inclusive and transparent process”.

Military raid

Rodríguez took over in Venezuela after a surprise US military raid in January that captured then-leader Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges.

This is the first trip to the United States by a Venezuelan head of state since 2018, when Maduro traveled to New York to participate in the UN General Assembly himself. He is currently being held only a few miles from the organization’s headquarters as he awaits trial.

Rodríguez’s participation in the international forum also marks a milestone in Venezuela’s reintegration into global diplomacy. Addressing global leaders, she said that “the last time that two presidents of Venezuela and the United States met was in 2009.”

She added that her country is coming back strong after “setbacks” suffered this year and thanked President Donald Trump for being willing to resume relations after the US military spirited her predecessor out of the country.

The other setback to which she referred: On June 24, two powerful earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck north-central Venezuela and killed more than 6,500 people, leaving an untold number of missing and causing widespread devastation.

“I come to talk about a Venezuela whose national life has been affected by a crisis of political coexistence that disrupted the life of the nation and our interaction with the world,” Rodriguez said. “Interests alien to the common good of Venezuelans were imposed.”

Rodriguez faced a delicate balance in her speech, which needed to be addressed to both her people and the US government that holds her predecessor. She thanked Trump for his willingness to resume the course of diplomatic relations and cooperation with Venezuela.

“We are working earnestly to resolve existing differences through dialogue, but above all to pave the way for cooperation in the energy sector, the promotion of security, the joint fight against transnational crime, and economic cooperation for the benefit of both peoples and our continent,” she said. “Today, Venezuela is being reborn.”

Since rising to power, Rodríguez has forged a close working relationship with Trump. US influence in Venezuela has grown following the lifting of sanctions against Rodríguez in April, one of several recent moves by Washington to recognise her as a legitimate authority ever since the US military captured her predecessor.

Addressing some words to her people, Rodríguez said that she could not promise an “easy path”, noting that “the country’s recovery will take time”.

“Rebuilding the national soul will be our priority,” she said. “We will walk united as a single nation that, after the pain, chose hope.”

Before her speech at the UN Wednesday night, Trump and Rodríguez, who had been Maduro’s vice president, met at a pull-aside meeting late Tuesday during a reception the US president hosted at a New York hotel.

It was the first time the two had met in person since the operation that captured the nation’s former leader and effectively put Rodríguez in charge.

“We discussed strengthening the bilateral relationship between our countries and advancing a cooperation agenda in strategic areas such as energy, mining, security, and other matters of mutual interest,” Rodríguez said on X after the encounter.

The meeting came after the two countries announced an agreement last month to give the United States a stake in Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. She described the deal as a step toward economic recovery that will modernise the country’s oil industry.

Rodríguez vowed to shoulder the “historic responsibility” of leading Venezuela “from a period of uncertainty and conflict toward a stage of full democracy, recognised by its own people and by the world”.

“Venezuela wants to breathe freely and exercise its rights as a sovereign nation without any kind of interference,” she said.