Venezuela's Delcy Rodriguez thanks Trump at UN after years of confrontation

Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez used her address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to thank United States President Donald Trump for resuming diplomatic relations and cooperation with Venezuela. The remarks marked a sharp contrast with her speech at the same forum in 2019, when she accused Washington of economic warfare and regime-change efforts. The shift in tone came as Venezuela remains at the centre of a wider political dispute involving its leadership and relations with the United States.

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According to the supplied material, Rodriguez spoke at the UN stage in New York on Tuesday and later appeared in a photograph with Trump. The article says she delivered a relatively restrained speech, unlike her 2019 intervention, when she was Venezuela's vice president under Nicolas Maduro. In that earlier speech, she accused the United States of using banks and insurance companies to inflict what she called economic terrorism, and said sanctions had caused Venezuela losses of $130bn between 2015 and 2018.

The piece also says Trump oversaw what it describes as regime change in Venezuela less than nine months earlier, after Maduro was taken into custody. It states that Maduro is now in New York and in jail, and is scheduled to stand trial in June 2027. The article says the January 3 operation involved US military air attacks on Venezuela that killed about 100 people and removed Maduro and his wife from the country.

It also notes that Maduro has argued his prosecution in a foreign court breaches international law. The development matters because it reflects a major reversal in the public posture of Venezuela's leadership toward Washington. In 2019, Rodriguez framed the United States as a power using sanctions and financial pressure to force political change and seize resources.

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In 2026, the same figure is presented as thanking the US president for restoring diplomatic ties, suggesting a significant shift in the balance of power and in Venezuela's external relations. The article places this change against a longer history of confrontation between Caracas and Washington. It recalls Rodriguez's earlier criticism of what she called the militarisation of international relations and the domination of the US political system by plutocratic minorities.

It also refers to accusations against Maduro, including claims that he led the so-called Cartel of the Suns, which the article says does not actually exist. Those claims are presented as part of the legal and political context surrounding the current dispute. What remains unclear from the supplied material is the precise scope of the renewed diplomatic and cooperation arrangements, and how they will affect Venezuela's internal political situation.

It is also not clear what legal process will follow Maduro's scheduled trial in 2027, or how the reported deaths from the January 3 attacks will be addressed. The next developments to watch are whether the thaw in relations holds, how Caracas responds publicly, and whether the UN appearance signals a broader policy shift.

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