Washington DC [US], January 15 (ANI): Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez held a “long and courteous” telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump, during which the two leaders discussed key bilateral issues, including oil, minerals, trade and national security, marking a potential shift in diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington, following US strikes on the South American country, which led to the capture of its former President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Rodriguez, who assumed the acting presidency after the January 3 capture of Maduro by US forces, described the call as conducted “within a framework of mutual respect,” in which a bilateral work agenda for the benefit of both nations was addressed, according to her social media posts following the discussion.
“I held a long and courteous telephone conversation with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, conducted within a framework of mutual respect, in which we addressed a bilateral work agenda for the benefit of our peoples, as well as pending matters between our governments,” Rodriguez said in a post on X.
Echoing her remarks, President Trump, in a Truth Social post, said he had a “very good” conversation with Rodriguez and highlighted progress in cooperation with Venezuela. In his post, Trump emphasised that discussions covered oil, minerals, trade, and national security, expressing optimism about stabilising the situation and helping Venezuela recover.
“This morning I had a very good call with the Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez. We are making tremendous progress, as we help Venezuela stabilize and recover. Many topics were discussed, including Oil, Minerals, Trade and, of course, National Security. This partnership between the United States of America and Venezuela will be a spectacular one FOR ALL. Venezuela will soon be great and prosperous again, perhaps more so than ever before!” Trump’s post read.
The phone call represents one of the first high-level engagements between the United States and Venezuela’s interim leadership since Maduro’s ouster, potentially signalling a new phase of diplomatic engagement after months of heightened tensions between the two nations.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump said he had spoken with Rodriguez, saying, “She’s been very good. She asked us if we could take 50 million barrels of oil, and I said yes, we can; it is worth USD 4.2 billion, and it is on its way right now to the United States.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Trump said that Washington is working “very well” with Venezuelan authorities as Caracas prepares to send millions of barrels of oil to American refineries.
He asserted that his administration is working closely with the new administration in the Latin American country and claimed that large volumes of Venezuelan oil are already entering the United States as part of the engagement.
This comes almost two weeks after the US launched a “large-scale strike” in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and captured Maduro and his wife.
Maduro and Flores were flown out of the country in a joint operation involving intelligence agencies and US law enforcement.
They were indicted on charges of alleged “drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies” in the Southern District of New York and are currently facing trial.
Following their capture, Trump said that Washington will run the country “until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition”.
He said that the US action was aimed at bringing “outlaw dictator Nicolas Maduro to justice”. (ANI)