Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez provided details Tuesday about her “historic meeting” with President Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The brief discussion took place during a Trump-hosted reception at New York’s Lotte Palace Hotel. It was the first encounter between the two leaders since US forces captured and removed 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. She also posted a photograph of herself alongside the commander-in-chief.
Rodríguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president, said she conveyed her “gratitude” for the Trump administration’s “resolute support” following the devastating June 24 earthquake. She also thanked the administration for supporting Venezuela’s “reintegration process” in multilateral forums.
“Venezuela and the United States share a historical relationship that, in this new stage, we are called to channel through dialogue,” Rodríguez wrote. “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.”
The White House said Trump was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
Rodríguez reportedly attended with Venezuela’s vice president of economy, its oil minister and representatives of state-run oil company PDVSA, according to sources cited by Reuters.
Earlier Tuesday, during his address to the United Nations, Trump pointed to the release of hundreds of Venezuelan political prisoners and a sweeping oil agreement with the South American nation as evidence of progress since the daring overnight raid on Maduro’s compound, which he called the operation against an “outlaw dictator.”
“To the victor belong the spoils,” Trump said, describing the oil agreement signed with Caracas last month as “perhaps the biggest deal ever made.”
Trump said he hopes the agreement will bring roughly $100 billion in investment to Venezuela’s oil sector. The deal gives the United States control of more than 65 billion barrels of the socialist country’s proven oil reserves.
