The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, surprised on Thursday by publicly referring to the U.S. leader Donald Trump as "partner and friend", in a rhetorical shift that signals a departure from years of direct confrontation between Caracas and Washington.
During an event with young Chavistas held at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas and broadcast by the state television channel VTV, Rodríguez took the opportunity to ask the U.S. president to lift the sanctions and economic blockade imposed against the country.
“President Trump, as a friend, as a partner... we are opening a new agenda of cooperation with the United States, lift the sanctions and end the blockade against our homeland, because that blockade also affects the Venezuelan youth,” affirmed the Chavista leader.
Delcy celebrated that Trump, in his recent State of the Union address, referred to Venezuela as a "new friend and partner," and she used that statement as a basis to call for a full normalization of bilateral relations.
Rodríguez insisted that Venezuela "has never been an enemy country" of the United States nor has it represented a threat to any other country.
"It has never been a country that threatens the United States or any country on the planet," he stated, assuring that Caracas has historically maintained "a geopolitical conception of friendship and cooperation."
A turn following Maduro's capture
The call from the acting president comes in an extraordinary context: on January 3, U.S. forces conducted a military operation in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro, an event that triggered a diplomatic crisis and lingering legitimacy tensions.
In his speech, Rodríguez recalled that episode—which the government has labeled as a "military aggression"—and called for a "loud applause" for Maduro and Cilia Flores.
Despite this background, Washington has begun a gradual process of easing some restrictions in recent months, particularly in the energy sector.
Venezuelan assets have been unlocked in the United States, and cooperation projects in oil, gas, mining, and electricity have been announced.
Trump recently highlighted the arrival of Venezuelan oil in U.S. territory.
"Now no one can believe what they are seeing. U.S. oil production has increased by more than 600,000 barrels per day, and we have just received 80 million barrels of oil from our new friend and partner, Venezuela," said the president.
Energy and sanctions still in effect
The bilateral approach has focused on revitalizing the Venezuelan oil sector. However, other restrictions remain in place.
Rodríguez stated that the sanctions "affect the development" of the country and particularly impact the younger generations.
The lifting of the blockade, he said, is a necessary condition to consolidate the "new cooperation agenda" that, according to his speech, is beginning to take shape between Caracas and Washington.
The gesture of calling Donald Trump "partner and friend" symbolizes a significant shift in the official Venezuelan narrative.
From the constant denunciation of external aggressions, chavismo now seems to be betting on a strategy of pragmatic understanding with the United States, focused on energy and commercial interests.
However, the future of this relationship will depend on how far Washington is willing to dismantle the sanctions that have for years been one of the main instruments of pressure on the Venezuelan government.
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