Rodriguez Returns From US Visit With No Deals and No Election Date

Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez returned from a week-long visit to the United States without the concrete agreements her delegation had sought on debt, energy and mining, and without setting a date for the elections she promised at the United Nations.

Rodriguez travelled to New York for the UN General Assembly in her first US visit since American forces captured her predecessor, Nicolas Maduro, in a January raid. In her address to the assembly, she pledged that the OPEC member would hold elections as part of a transition to what she called full democracy. She left with photographs alongside US President Donald Trump, but no signed deals.

Ahead of the trip, sources had said talks with US officials, multilateral lenders, allied governments and energy and mining companies were expected to yield at least preliminary agreements. As of Saturday, none had been announced.

The head of the Inter-American Development Bank said the institution was working to secure approval for a $2.5 billion bridge loan for Venezuela, though some board members oppose the move.

Analysts described the visit as a display of Washington's deep influence over Rodriguez's administration. "Rodriguez enjoyed a week of high visibility. Yet, when we make a list of concrete results, the outcome is modest," said Washington-based analyst Antonio De La Cruz, adding that the disbursements, reconstruction package and business deals needed to portray New York as Venezuela's great financial comeback did not materialise.

Trump, in a Tuesday address to the assembly, said "to the victor belong the spoils" and reminded those listening that the US stood ready to use its unmatched military might. He did not mention Rodriguez by name, and no readout was published of their brief pull-aside meeting.

Inside the UN hall, the Venezuelan delegation was largely isolated. Cuba's delegation, once Caracas's closest ally, walked out when Trump turned to Cuba, while Rodriguez remained as he called Maduro an outlaw dictator. Officials from Caracas and Havana avoided each other, sources said. When Rodriguez crossed the floor to greet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, he finished a phone call before standing to receive her; Sanchez later described the greeting as normal.

A source said the Russian delegation sought a meeting with Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia to discuss its stakes in Venezuelan oil projects. There have been reports that ExxonMobil has held negotiations to return to the large Petromonagas development, partially owned by Russia's state firm Roszarubezhneft.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the region's most prominent leftist leader, told CNN that the US treats Rodriguez as if it were her boss and that, in her place, he would call elections.

Outside the UN, more than 50 protesters carried signs reading "New Face, Same Regime" and chanted that Rodriguez should join Maduro in the Brooklyn jail where he is held pending trial.

After the meeting with Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the two discussed restructuring Venezuela's sovereign debt and that Washington pressed for political change. "For this project to be successful, it culminates in a free and fair election," Rubio said.

For nine months, Rodriguez had avoided signalling when a vote might be held, while US officials said it would take time. Analysts and opposition parties now say the clock is ticking to set a date, with experts estimating at least 12 months would be needed to appoint reliable authorities and organise the voting.

While Rodriguez was in the US, media reports said opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, a potential strong candidate in any election, was again prevented from returning to Venezuela from Panama. Political analyst Nicmer Evans, a former supporter of the late President Hugo Chavez, wrote on X that Rodriguez had allowed herself to be doubly humiliated in exchange for Trump withholding support for Machado. "There will be elections, but when the United States sees fit," Evans wrote.

The White House and Venezuela's information and foreign affairs ministries did not reply to requests for comment on a possible election or the details of the bilateral talks.