This comes as main opposition chief, Maria Corina Machado, returns to Venezuela and hints at criticism of Trump administration.
Printed On 3 Nov 2026
The US has urged Venezuela to proceed on a phased plan of financial restoration and political reconciliation earlier than embarking on democratic elections.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned the gradual plan throughout a gathering on the nation’s political future with Venezuelan Minister of International Affairs Oliver Blanco on Monday. The assembly comes practically a yr after US forces abducted former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from Caracas and introduced him to the US to face drug trafficking and different fees.
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Neither Rubio nor Blanco spoke to the media after the assembly, however in a readout. The State Division stated in a readout that Washington had reaffirmed President Donald Trump’s “three-phase plan for Venezuela: stabilization, financial restoration and political reconciliation, and democratic transition”.
Final week, Venezuelan opposition chief Maria Corina Machado returned to her nation, thanking the US president and Rubio for his or her help. Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who gifted her medal to Trump in 2025, stated she had come to organise a motion in preparation for Venezuelan elections.
Rubio “has set out a sequence of occasions geared toward transferring towards a democratic transition that makes clear the holding of presidential elections in 2027”, she stated.
Machado is balancing an election marketing campaign with a Trump administration that has sought to extract oil from Venezuela by hanging offers with the federal government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who served as Maduro’s vice chairman and took over after his abduction.
In September, the Trump administration stated it had struck a deal with Venezuela that may give Washington a stake in about one-fifth of the nation’s oil sources.
The US stated it was creating a joint venture with North American Blue Power Companions (NABEP), owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, which is the second-largest non-public oil operator in Venezuela, behind Chevron.
Beneath the deal, Caracas is giving the corporate 100-year rights over 17 oilfields with confirmed reserves of 65 billion barrels. The Pentagon may have a 35 % stake in NABEP, and the US shall be assured the suitable to purchase 20 % of its oil output at value, the Trump administration has stated.
Shortly earlier than Machado’s statements on Thursday, Rodriguez assured the nation that elections can be held in Venezuela “with the world as witness”, however didn’t specify a date.
When requested a couple of attainable assembly with Rodriguez, Machado stated she had not acquired any message from the interim president or from Washington.
In remarks after returning Venezuela, Machado appeared sceptical of the oil settlement with the US.
“This settlement doesn’t replicate the degrees of transparency that Venezuelan society desires,” Machado stated.
