Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez waves after a press conference on January 14, 2026, and US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One on September 11, 2025. JUAN BARRETO, MANDEL NGAN / AFP
Venezuela's interim president will soon visit the United States, a senior US official said on Wednesday, January 21, further signaling President Donald Trump's willingness to embrace the oil-rich country's new leader. Delcy Rodriguez would be the first sitting Venezuelan president to visit the United States in more than a quarter century – aside from presidents attending United Nations meetings in New York.
She said Wednesday that she approached any dialogue with the United States "without fear."
"We are in a process of dialogue, of working with the United States, without any fear, to confront our differences and difficulties... and to address them through diplomacy," said Rodriguez.
The invitation reflects a head-snapping shift in relations between Washington and Caracas since US Delta Force operatives swooped into Caracas, seized President Nicolas Maduro and spirited him to a US jail to face narcotrafficking charges.
