Trump to Meet Venezuela's Interim President Rodriguez in New York Sept. 22 as Machado's Return Stays Unscheduled

Since U.S. forces removed Nicolás Maduro from power in January 2026 and installed his former deputy Delcy Rodríguez as interim president, Washington has steadily built a working relationship with her government while keeping Nobel laureate María Corina Machado at arm's length. That gap widens further next week.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told reporters on a briefing call Friday that President Trump will hold a "pull-aside" with Rodríguez on Tuesday, September 22, on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly leaders' reception Trump is hosting in New York, according to The Hindu. It will be the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since Maduro's ouster. Waltz gave no details on what the two will discuss, and Venezuela's Communications Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The meeting lands two days before Machado's own timeline, which remains stuck in limbo. Four opposition sources and two political analysts told Reuters, in reporting carried by Internazionale and WMBD Radio, that Machado will eventually return to Venezuela from Panama, where she has been living without a valid passport since leaving the country in late 2025 to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. No date has been set. One source close to her said she plans to stop in the United States first, though no itinerary exists yet.

"She is going to return. She'll go to the United States, but not to ask for permission," the source told Reuters, adding Machado's focus on returning would be pushing for fair elections.

Why Washington wants her to wait

U.S. officials privately asked Machado to delay her homecoming after twin earthquakes hit Venezuela in June, according to the same Reuters reporting. One political analyst, speaking anonymously, told Reuters the administration worries Machado could disrupt its transition plans by rallying supporters to push Maduro-era officials out of power faster than Washington's negotiated timeline allows.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a longtime Machado associate, said in a September interview that she has "every right to return" but is playing an important role organizing the Venezuelan diaspora from abroad. Trump himself said this month that it is too soon to consider democratic elections in Venezuela.

Rubio has outlined a three-phase plan for Venezuela: stabilization, recovery, and democratic transition. The administration says phase one is complete, according to an interview Machado gave to Democrats Review, published September 4 and reported by CiberCuba. But Machado told the outlet the promised second-phase energy investments have not materialized, partly because Venezuela ranks last worldwide in rule-of-law rankings she cited. She also said roughly 500 of the 1,200 political prisoners held under Maduro remain detained, with torture centers still operating, and that she receives daily threats from members of Rodríguez's government.

U.S.-backed talks between a faction of the opposition and the interim government, aimed at reshaping Venezuela's political system ahead of eventual elections, resumed this week. Machado proposed leading those negotiations herself, according to a source close to her cited by Reuters, but Washington instead backed the leader of Venezuela's 2015 legislature. Machado's political movement is not part of the talks.

The oil deal complicates it further

Last month the U.S. and Venezuela signed an energy agreement giving Washington partial control over Venezuela's oil reserves, which at an estimated 303 billion barrels are the largest proven reserves in the world. More than 65 billion barrels are covered by the deal, according to The Guardian. Trump has called it the biggest oil deal in world history and touted roughly $100 billion in planned industry investment, per CiberCuba, though companies including ExxonMobil have raised concerns about the lack of legal guarantees for that investment.

Machado has publicly challenged the arrangement without directly attacking Trump. "The wealth of our subsoil does not belong to an illegitimate regime, it belongs to the Venezuelan people," she said in a video posted to social media, cited by The Guardian, arguing Rodríguez's government has no democratic mandate to negotiate the country's natural resources on its behalf.

Machado's camp argues a government installed by a foreign military operation, not an election, has no standing to sign away six decades of Venezuelan oil wealth. The administration's counter, voiced by Energy Secretary Chris Wright in Caracas, is that the deal is meant "to massively grow production and economic opportunities in Venezuela" and deliver stability first. Neither claim has been tested by an actual vote. Venezuela hasn't held one since the disputed 2024 election that Machado's movement is widely believed to have won.

Her approval rating remains the highest of any figure tied to Venezuelan politics, per Reuters' sourcing, even though it slipped last month. Whether Tuesday's meeting between Trump and Rodríguez produces any commitment on elections or any signal on when Machado can finally go home will become clear in the coming days.