US urges Venezuela to continue phased democratic transition plan after Rubio-Blanco meeting

The United States has urged Venezuela to continue a phased plan covering economic recovery, political reconciliation and a democratic transition, following talks in Washington between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco. The meeting took place on Monday and focused on Venezuela's political future. Neither Rubio nor Blanco spoke publicly after the talks.

According to a State Department readout, Washington reaffirmed President Donald Trump's three-phase plan for Venezuela: stabilization, economic recovery and political reconciliation, and democratic transition. The readout said the approach is intended to move the country toward democratic elections. The discussion came as the US continues to press for a sequence of steps before any vote.

The diplomatic exchange comes at a sensitive moment in Venezuela's opposition politics. Maria Corina Machado, a leading opposition figure, has returned to the country and said she is organising a movement in preparation for elections. She also thanked Trump and Rubio for their support.

Machado said Rubio had outlined a sequence of events aimed at a democratic transition that would make presidential elections in 2027 possible. The talks also sit alongside a broader and more complicated US approach to Venezuela. The reporting says the Trump administration has sought to extract oil from the country through deals with the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who took over after Nicolas Maduro was abducted and brought to the United States to face drug trafficking and other charges.

That combination of pressure and engagement underlines the political and economic stakes surrounding Venezuela's future. The oil dimension is significant because the reporting says Washington struck a deal in September that would give it a stake in about one-fifth of Venezuela's oil resources. It also says the arrangement involves a joint venture with North American Blue Energy Partners, owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt.

Under the reported terms, Caracas would grant 100-year rights over 17 oilfields with proven reserves of 65 billion barrels, while the Pentagon would hold a 35 percent stake in NABEP. What remains unclear is how far the phased transition plan has advanced and whether Caracas and Washington share the same timetable for elections and political reconciliation. It is also not clear how the opposition's organising efforts will interact with the US-backed economic arrangements described in the reporting.

The next developments to watch are any further official statements from either government and whether the transition framework is translated into concrete political steps.

#Venezuela #UnitedStates #MarcoRubio #OliverBlanco #MariaCorinaMachado