This Thursday, Washington concentrates two key movements in Venezuelan politics, led by Delcy Rodríguez and María Corina Machado, who compete on different levels for dialogue with the White House after the capture of Nicolás Maduro. The sequence of the last hours is not coincidental and helps to understand how the United States is beginning to organize its priorities in the new scenario opened in Caracas.
Rodríguez has gone ahead. The president in charge of Venezuela has spoken directly with Donald Trump in a conversation that the US president has described as “excellent” and “long”, and in which, in his own words, they addressed “oil, minerals, trade and security.” “She is a fantastic person. She is someone with whom we have worked very well,” Trump said from the Oval Office, also highlighting that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, maintains direct contact with her. It is the first known exchange between both leaders since the change of power in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan leader has confirmed the call and has described the tone as “courteous”, developed “in a framework of mutual respect”, with a “bilateral work agenda for the benefit” of both countries and “pending issues” between governments. Rodríguez has fitted the contact into the story of a “new political moment” for Venezuela, which the Executive links to the release process announced in recent days.
According to official figures, there have already been more than 400 releases of people deprived of liberty. However, human rights organizations verify a significantly smaller number and demand that the complete lists be made public. Among those released are several journalists and communicators, but relevant names from the opposition environment remain detained, such as Juan Pablo Guanipa, a direct ally of Machado, a fact that adds tension to the political battle now taking place in Washington.
While Rodríguez has activated the direct channel with Trump and the State Department, Machado arrives at the White House this Thursday for his first meeting with the American president. The lunch will be held behind closed doors and without access for the press, and comes after the Venezuelan opposition has been left out of the initial design of the transition, endorsed by Washington with Rodríguez at the head of the Government in charge.
Machado comes accompanied by her team and a network of Republican supporters in Florida, in an attempt to regain prominence after weeks of exclusion from the process. In recent days, other opposition leaders have intensified their presence in Washington and in the American media, while the opposition leader has sought to bring positions closer together even with symbolic gestures, such as her proposal to share the Nobel Peace Prize with Trump, a possibility that the Nobel Committee has ruled out by regulations.
In parallel, the Venezuelan interim government is quietly moving forward in reopening formal diplomatic channels with the United States, closed since 2019. Teams from both parties are already working on the ground to normalize relations and set an agenda in which the White House places oil and security as strategic priorities. Reuters has described this move as a relevant diplomatic turn after months of sanctions, tensions and military escalation.
According to sources cited by The New York Times, Trump’s entourage had identified Rodríguez, even before the operation that deposed Maduro, as the figure best positioned to pilot a functional transition and address the reconstruction of the oil sector. Reports from the national security team and the CIA, however, expressed reservations about Machado’s leadership, considering that his profile could generate internal instability.
Thus, on the same day and in the same city, Washington listens to two different Venezuelas. One speaks of management, resources and diplomatic normalization. The other appeals to political legitimacy and moral capital. The fight for Trump’s favor is underway and the order of the movements begins to determine who has the upper hand.
