Trump and Rodriguez Forge Oil Alliance and Election Pact

President Donald Trump and Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez held a series of high-level meetings in New York during the 81st United Nations General Assembly to normalize bilateral relations. The diplomatic rapprochement follows a January 3 U.S. military operation in Caracas that captured former President Nicolás Maduro, who remains detained in Brooklyn on narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.

Central to the new alliance is a historic energy agreement granting North American Blue Energy Partners access to 65 billion barrels of oil across 17 fields over 25 years. Trump described the arrangement as "a gift from Venezuela to the American people" and the "biggest oil deal in world history," asserting that the U.S. and Venezuela now control over 60% of global oil reserves.

During a closed-door meeting at the Lotte New York Palace hotel, Trump pressed Rodriguez to schedule democratic elections. In her subsequent address to the UN General Assembly, Rodriguez promised an "orderly, institutional and verifiable" transition to democracy, though she refused to provide a specific date. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that avoiding economic collapse is a prerequisite for fair elections, while some officials suggested a 2028 timeline.

While Rodriguez sought international reintegration through meetings with the IMF and World Bank, the alliance faced criticism from the Venezuelan diaspora. Opposition leader María Corina Machado reported seven failed attempts to return to Venezuela since December 2025, with reports suggesting U.S. officials privately urged her to postpone her return.