Delcy Rodríguez, the interim president of Venezuela, promised on Wednesday before the General Assembly of the UN in New York that Venezuela will hold elections, although without specifying a date or concrete schedule. She took advantage of the international forum to redefine the very concept of democracy to the gathered delegates.
"Democracy is not measured by the existence of elections. Democracy is measured by the quality of the competition that precedes those elections," declared the acting Venezuelan president from the podium of the General Assembly.
Rodríguez affirmed that the Venezuelan government "will guarantee real conditions for participation for all political forces in the country" and announced that "a political dialogue has already begun with sectors of the opposition aimed at leading a process under equal conditions for all."
However, he deliberately left the timing of the elections up in the air: "The Venezuelan people, with their ancestral wisdom, will determine the right moment, and their institutions will be prepared to ensure that inclusive and transparent process."
The speech before the UN came just one day after the meeting that Rodríguez had with President Donald Trump at the Hotel Lotte New York Palace in Manhattan, the first in-person contact between a U.S. president and a Venezuelan leader in over eleven years.
The meeting, held behind closed doors, included the participation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Advisor Stephen Miller.
Rubio described the meeting as "brief but important" and revealed that the main topics were the restructuring of Venezuela's sovereign debt, economic stabilization, and the political transition towards free and fair elections.
The Venezuelan chancellor Félix Plasencia González described the meeting as “the beginning of a new phase of relations between Venezuela and the United States”.
This approach is part of the accelerated normalization process between Caracas and Washington that began following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3, 2026, since which Rodríguez has served as interim president.
At the end of August, Trump announced a oil agreement under which the company North American Blue Energy Partners obtained rights to 17 Venezuelan fields with approximately 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Washington has conditioned full normalization on elections with international observation, a free press, and a legitimate National Electoral Council. Rubio was explicit: “we want a lasting republic with a functional economy”.
The main figures of the majority opposition, María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, remain outside the formal dialogue table and demand the release of political prisoners, concrete electoral guarantees, and the return of exiles before validating any process.
In his speech, Rodríguez also announced an "ordered legal reform" to strengthen the state, described the reform of the justice system as "urgent," and requested the international community's "support" without "any kind of interference" in Venezuelan affairs.
The electoral promise without a specific date contrasts with Rubio's demand that the elections be held "as soon as possible," conditioned on sufficient time, a free press, a legitimate CNE, and international observation.
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