In short
- Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, met US President Donald Trump at the Lotte New York Palace hotel in Manhattan on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.
- Nicolás Maduro has been held in a Brooklyn prison, about 7 miles from the hotel, since he was captured in a special forces raid on Caracas in January.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller attended the meeting, which Rubio said focused on Venezuela’s economic recovery and political transition.
- Venezuela has ceded control of its oil revenues to Washington and agreed to a 65bn-barrel oil deal that Trump called the largest oil deal in history.
- Rodríguez was expected to address the UN general assembly on Wednesday.
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, met US President Donald Trump at the Lotte New York Palace hotel in Manhattan on Tuesday night, on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, and called the encounter “historic”. The meeting took place about 7 miles from the Brooklyn prison where Nicolás Maduro is being held.
What did Delcy Rodríguez say about the meeting?
In a 133-word statement on Instagram, Rodríguez said the two had discussed “strengthening the bilateral relationship between our countries” and a “cooperation agenda” covering energy, mining and security. The statement did not mention Maduro, under whom she served as vice-president.
Who attended the meeting in New York?
A White House aide said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller also attended. “It was a short meeting but it was an important meeting,” Rubio told reporters, saying the talks focused on Venezuela’s economic recovery and political transition. Rodríguez was expected to address the UN general assembly on Wednesday.
Where is Nicolás Maduro?
Maduro was captured in a special forces raid on Caracas in January and has been held in Brooklyn since. Asked before the meeting whether she would visit him during her stay in New York, Rodríguez did not reply. Hours earlier, she sat in the general assembly hall as Trump celebrated the “massive military operation” that captured Maduro, calling him an “outlaw dictator” and “a real criminal”. “It was a war … [and] to the victor belong the spoils,” Trump said of the recent US-Venezuela oil deal.
What has Venezuela conceded to Washington?
After Maduro’s capture, Trump warned that Rodríguez would “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she did not toe the US line. She has since ceded control of Venezuela’s oil revenues to Washington and agreed to a 65bn-barrel oil deal that Trump called “the largest oil deal in history”. A US-led firm has also won 100-year rights to 17 Venezuelan oilfields, and oil baron Alejandro Betancourt has featured in the US-Venezuela deal.
How has the meeting been received in Venezuela?
Some of Rodríguez’s critics in Venezuela called her treatment by Trump an unmitigated humiliation for a socialist politician who spent years railing against American imperialism. One opposition figure described it as a meeting between a “shameless puppet and her unscrupulous puppeteer”. Orlando Pérez, a Latin America expert at the University of North Texas at Dallas, disagreed: “It’s a huge triumph [for her]. She got the photo op she wanted.” Pérez said the picture was a “win-win” for both leaders.
What has happened to María Corina Machado?
Trump has repeatedly praised Rodríguez’s “fantastic” and “terrific” leadership while sidelining her main rival, opposition leader María Corina Machado, who is exiled in Panama after travelling to Oslo to receive her Nobel peace prize. Machado reportedly tried three times to return to Venezuela this week and failed. The last meeting between US and Venezuelan presidents was in 2015, when Barack Obama and Maduro spoke briefly at a regional summit in Panama.
Trump has been forging ahead with attempts to reassert US dominance in a region it has long considered its back yard. A UN report found that US boat strikes may be crimes against humanity.
Frequently asked questions
Did Donald Trump meet Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez?
Yes. Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president, met Trump at the Lotte New York Palace hotel in Manhattan on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, in what she called a historic meeting.
Where is Nicolás Maduro now?
Maduro has been held in a Brooklyn prison since he was captured during a special forces raid on Caracas in January. The prison is about 7 miles from the hotel where Rodríguez met Trump.
Who else attended the Rodríguez-Trump meeting?
A White House aide said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller were present. Rubio described it as a short but important meeting focused on Venezuela’s economic recovery and political transition.
What concessions has Venezuela made to Washington?
Rodríguez has ceded control of Venezuela’s oil revenues to Washington and agreed to a 65bn-barrel oil deal that Trump called the largest oil deal in history.
With reporting from The Guardian.
Stock image, not from the events described. City Skyline — Joe deSousa / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)
