Trump meets Venezuela's Rodriguez for the first time since Maduro's capture at UN General Assembly

US President Donald Trump met Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez late Tuesday at the UN General Assembly, their first meeting since American forces captured then-President Nicolas Maduro in a raid in January. The pull-aside meeting took place during a reception Trump hosted and included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and other white house officials.

Rodriguez's delegation, which includes Venezuela's vice president of economy, its oil minister, and officials from state oil company PDVSA, has been holding talks on energy, mining, and debt with US officials, multilateral lenders, and companies.

In his address to the General Assembly Tuesday morning, Trump called Maduro an "outlaw dictator" and said hundreds of political prisoners had been freed since his capture. He called an oil deal signed with Caracas last month "perhaps the biggest deal ever made" and said he wants $100 billion in investment to flow into Venezuela's oil industry.

Trump framed the Maduro operation as part of broader US pressure across the Western Hemisphere, alongside efforts against drug cartels in Mexico, negotiations with Cuba, and a new security agreement with Denmark and Greenland giving Washington "permanent control over security and all other needs" on the Arctic territory.

Critics say Washington has sidelined the opposition led by Maria Corina Machado, dropping demands for free elections in favor of investment deals with the interim government. Machado reportedly made three unsuccessful attempts, by sea and air, to return to Venezuela in recent hours, among seven failed attempts since she left the country nine months ago, according to adviser Pedro Urruchurtu.

US officials had privately urged Machado to postpone her return following June earthquakes in Venezuela, people familiar with the matter said. Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been in exile since late last year following the contested 2024 election.