WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will meet with Delcy Rodriguez, the acting president of Venezuela, for the first time since his administration carried out an operation to capture the nation's former leader and effectively put Rodriguez in charge.
The gathering in New York City this week between the two leaders will be a "pull-aside" — diplomatic speak for a meeting that is more casual than a formal bilateral sit-down — said Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Trump will be in town for the annual United Nations General Assembly.
Rodríguez took over in Venezuela after a surprise U.S. military raid in January that captured then-leader Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges.
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The first meeting between Trump and Rodríguez, who had been Maduro's vice president, comes after the two countries announced an agreement last month to give the United States a stake in Venezuela's vast oil reserves. She described the deal as a step toward economic recovery that will modernize the country's oil industry.
Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on Sunday, U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Miami Republican, described Rodrigue "a necessary evil" to stabilize Venezuela.
Asked if Trump should meet with Rodriguez
—a top figure in Maduro's regime — Salazar said the UN meeting is part of a broader strategic blueprint designed to transition Venezuela toward democracy and free elections.
"Trump has forced the bad actors to create the platform for the good actors to come in," Salazar told Brennan. "Delcy is just a necessary evil for now to stabilize."
When Trump and Rodriguez talk during the UN meeting, the pair won't be far Maduro and his wife, Cilia. They both have been held at a Brooklyn jail since U.S. forces seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid in early January and brought them to New York City.
Both have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging that they were part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S. In a separate court filing, they recently asked that their indictment be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country. Their trial is set for next June.
