The Daily Journal.- Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, described the U.S. bombings of January 3 as one of the “two great and painful trials” the country has faced in 2026 during her address to the 81st United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. She did not mention the capture of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores.
Rodríguez placed the attacks on Venezuela within the context of a political crisis and deteriorating relations between Caracas and Washington.
“I come to speak to you about a Venezuela whose national life has suffered from a crisis of political coexistence that disrupted our country’s domestic affairs and our interaction with the world. Interests alien to the common good of Venezuelans prevailed,” she stated.
According to the acting president, Venezuela has faced “two great and painful trials in its life as a nation” this year.
One, she said, stemmed from “the strangulation of its internal political life and the escalating confrontation with the United States of America,” while the second involved the two earthquakes that struck on June 24.
“Despite these harsh blows of life, as the poet César Vallejo would say, today Venezuela is reborn for Venezuelan men and women,” she declared.
Rodríguez presented the term “reborn” as an expression of how Venezuelans have responded to both events, linking this new phase to a shift in relations with the United States.
“Reborn sums up the attitude our people have adopted in response to these events and the transformation of a political relationship grounded in dialogue, negotiation, and diplomacy,” she said.
In this context, the acting president said she was willing to rebuild ties with Washington and explicitly thanked U.S. President Donald Trump, one day after their first face-to-face meeting in New York.
“At this 81st United Nations General Assembly, I want to thank President Donald Trump and his administration for their willingness to resume the path of diplomatic relations and cooperation with Venezuela,” she stated.
Rodríguez noted that the last meeting between the presidents of Venezuela and the United States took place in 2009 and said both countries are now working to overcome their differences through dialogue.
“Today, we are working seriously to resolve our existing differences through dialogue, but above all, to pave the way for energy relations, the promotion of security, the joint fight against transnational crime, and economic cooperation for the benefit of both our peoples and our continent,” she maintained.
Her address came one day after Rodríguez and Trump held a private meeting at the Lotte New York Palace hotel during a reception the U.S. president hosted for foreign leaders attending the UN High-Level Week.
No reference to Maduro and Cilia Flores
Although Rodríguez referred to the confrontation with the United States and the events of January 3 as one of Venezuela’s principal trials in 2026, she did not mention the capture of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, which occurred during the U.S. military operation in Caracas.
Her omission contrasts with Trump’s address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, in which the U.S. president defended Washington’s military actions in Venezuela.
“In January, under my orders, the United States military carried out a massive military operation that penetrated deep into the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, descended upon a heavily defended and fortified military base — one that was supposedly impregnable to any attack — and arrested the outlaw criminal, dictator, and genuine thug, Nicolás Maduro,” Trump stated.
Rodríguez, by contrast, focused her address on the new phase of dialogue and cooperation between the two governments.
The acting president concluded her remarks on Venezuela’s crisis by highlighting the international assistance the country received following the June 24 earthquakes.
“I want to thank all the countries of the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as the entire United Nations system, for showing solidarity with the Venezuelan people during the darkest hours caused by the two earthquakes,” she stated.
“In this new phase,” she added, “Venezuela seeks to rebuild and maintain relations based on “cooperation, respect, and equality” with the United States, its neighboring countries, and the international community.
