US President Donald Trump has held talks with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez at the UN General Assembly, their first face-to-face meeting since the White House backed her to take over the South American country’s government. Rodríguez succeeded Nicolás Maduro shortly after US forces conducted a raid on the Venezuelan capital Caracas and seized him. The pair met a few kilometres from the New York jail where Maduro is awaiting trial for drug trafficking and other charges. Rodríguez said they discussed “advancing a cooperation agenda in strategic areas such as energy, mining, and security”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles also attended the meeting. Rodríguez’s government has signed an agreement allowing the US to control more than 65 billion barrels of its oil – more than a fifth of the country’s reserves. It grants a US-led company 100-year concessions over 17 oilfields in Venezuela. Trump previously called it “the biggest oil deal in world history”.
During his address to the UN on Monday, Trump said the US and Venezuela control “more than 60%” of the world’s oil, adding: “To the victor belong the spoils.” Rodríguez is due to address the UN on Wednesday. She previously served as vice-president to Maduro and was sanctioned by the US in 2018, but the measures were lifted in April this year. She was sworn in as interim president by Venezuela’s National Assembly days after the US raid with the White House’s blessing. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has repeatedly been barred from re-entering the country.
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to face trial next June
