Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez shared details Tuesday about her “historic meeting” with President Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The pull-aside took place at a Trump-hosted reception at the Lotte Palace Hotel in New York and marked the first meeting between the two leaders since US forces captured and deposed former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in January.
“We held a historic meeting with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, with whom we discussed strengthening the bilateral relationship between our countries and advancing a cooperation agenda in strategic areas such as energy, mining, and security and other matters of common interest,” Rodríguez wrote on X, including a photo of herself standing next to the commander-in-chief.
The Venezuelan leader, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president, said she expressed her “gratitude” for the Trump administration’s “resolute support” in the aftermath of a devastating June 24 earthquake, as well as for “their backing of the reintegration process of our country in multilateral spaces.”
“Venezuela and the United States share a historical relationship that, in this new stage, we are called to channel through dialogue,” Rodríguez continued. “We will continue to promote a diplomacy at the service of the national interest, oriented toward achieving concrete results and collective benefits for the Venezuelan people.”
Trump was joined at the meeting by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, according to the White House.
Meanwhile, Rodríguez reportedly brought her vice president of economy, oil minister and officials from state oil company PDVSA, sources told Reuters.
In his UN speech earlier Tuesday, Trump touted the release of hundreds of Venezuelan political prisoners and the massive oil deal struck with the South American nation as tangible results since the daring, middle-of-the-night raid on “outlaw dictator” Maduro’s compound.
“To the victor belong the spoils,” the president declared, describing the oil agreement inked with Caracas last month as “perhaps the biggest deal ever made.”
Trump indicated that he’s aiming for some $100 billion in investment to flow into Venezuela’s oil industry as part of the deal, which grants the US control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in the socialist country.
