US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he spoke with Venezuela’s interim President, Delcy Rodriguez, earlier this week about elections in the South American country.
“I did. I spoke about elections,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Rodriguez briefly met Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, where she praised the US president for restarting dialogue with Venezuela. It was her first visit to the United States since American forces captured former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a January raid.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump and Rodriguez also discussed restructuring Venezuela’s sovereign debt, which amounts to billions of dollars. Rubio added that Washington had pushed for political changes in Venezuela.
In her address to the UN General Assembly, Rodriguez said elections would be held as part of a transition toward what she described as “full democracy.” However, she left the United States without announcing a firm date for the elections.
Rodriguez assumed power following Maduro’s capture. For the past nine months, she has avoided giving a clear indication of when elections might take place, while US officials have cautioned that the process could take time.
US officials have also said that any political transition in Venezuela should be accompanied by economic and social stability.
Source: Reuters
Tags
World News