The Daily Journal.— Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, arrived in New York early Monday morning to attend the 81st United Nations General Assembly, where she plans to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. The meeting will mark their first encounter since the U.S. military operation that culminated in Nicolás Maduro’s capture.
Rodríguez landed at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, where Vice President for Economic Affairs Calixto Ortega and First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Oliver Blanco, who also serves as deputy foreign minister for Europe and North America, welcomed her.
U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Venezuela John Barrett was also present, according to a video that Communications Minister Miguel Ángel Pérez Pirela shared on X.
“We arrive in New York with the determination and hope of a people who believe in dialogue and unity among nations,” Rodríguez wrote in a message on X ahead of the international gathering.
The acting president said Venezuela would bring its voice to the General Assembly and defend its principles through an agenda grounded in “respect, cooperation and understanding.” She also emphasized that the country “is committed to peace, dialogue and building common paths.”
First meeting since the bombings
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Rodríguez during an informal encounter on the sidelines of United Nations activities, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz announced.
The meeting, known in diplomatic language as a pull-aside, will follow a less formal protocol than an official bilateral meeting.
The encounter will mark the first contact between Trump and Rodríguez since U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas last January during a military operation that included airstrikes on Caracas and La Guaira.
It will also mark the first meeting between a U.S. president and a Venezuelan leader in more than 11 years. The most recent precedent dates back to the brief encounter between Barack Obama and Maduro during the 2015 Summit of the Americas in Panama.
Maduro himself made the last visit by a Venezuelan head of state to the UN General Assembly in 2018. The former president currently remains in custody at a prison just a few miles from United Nations headquarters and faces narco-terrorism charges. His trial is scheduled to begin in June 2027.
