Delcy Rodríguez and Trump Hold Historic Meeting in New York
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
The White House confirmed on Tuesday the participants of the meeting between President Donald Trump and Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, held this afternoon in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. According to the list distributed by the White House, in addition to Trump and Rodríguez, the meeting included Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles; and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and National Security and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller. So far, the White House has not released an official readout of the meeting or details about the topics discussed. The meeting was considered one of the most anticipated of the UN General Assembly as it marked the first face-to-face encounter between Trump and Rodríguez, occurring more than eight months after the capture of Nicolás Maduro during the U.S. military operation on January 3 in Caracas. Rodríguez, who less than a year ago, in October 2025, warned of a 'war-mongering threat' from the United States against Venezuela to 'steal' its vast resources, arrived in New York early Monday to participate in the UN General Assembly, as she reported on her X account. Why is this meeting significant? The encounter between Rodríguez and Trump is the first between a Venezuelan leader and a U.S. leader in over 11 years, since the brief meeting between Barack Obama and Maduro during the 2015 Summit of the Americas held in Panama. It is also the first visit by a Venezuelan head of state to New York since Maduro's last participation in a UN General Assembly in 2018. Following the military incursion, Rodríguez, then Vice President and Minister of Hydrocarbons under Maduro, assumed the role of interim leader and has promoted a series of legal and institutional changes to encourage foreign investment, amid close collaboration with the U.S., which claims to be implementing a three-phase plan (stabilization, recovery, and transition) designed for Venezuela. Both countries agreed in March to formally restore their diplomatic ties, which had been broken since early 2019, an announcement that represented a significant step in the cooperation framework established between Washington and Caracas. The interim leader, whom the White House warned could meet the same fate as Maduro, argues that she has chosen the path of diplomacy and dialogue to resolve differences. She has even referred to Trump this year as a 'partner and friend,' despite him being the architect of the toughest sanctions against Venezuela, particularly oil sanctions, which have been eased. The collaboration between both governments peaked on August 28, when Trump and Rodríguez announced a 'historic' agreement for the exploitation of one-fifth of Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world, through a company in which the Pentagon holds a 35% equity stake.
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
