Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday met with Dinorah Figuera, president of Venezuela’s 2015 National Assembly, as the U.S. facilitates talks between the country’s last democratically elected legislature and the interim government.
Mr. Rubio said in a statement after the talks that he commended Ms. Figuera for her “courageous leadership” in working toward political reconciliation with Venezuela’s current leadership. He said both sides agreed to continue talks aimed at “lasting democratic change” in the country.
The National Assembly was elected in 2015 and was sidelined in 2017, when the Supreme Court ruled it would assume the legislature’s functions, a decision it reversed days later, and President Nicolas Maduro’s government seated a rival Constituent Assembly.
People were interested in these podcasts
Ms. Figuera has served as president of the assembly since 2023. She had lived in exile in Spain since 2018 before returning to Venezuela this year.
“I want to leave it abundantly clear that this process that she is leading, along with her team, has 100% support, the strongest possible support from the highest levels of our government,” Mr. Rubio told reporters in Washington before the meeting. “And we encourage everyone who cares about the future of Venezuela to participate in this process in a way that’s positive.”
He did not answer a reporter’s question about when he expects Venezuela to hold its first elections since the U.S. arrest of Mr. Maduro in January. Mr. Rubio has said that the country needs to be economically stable before elections can be held, though the Trump administration has not released a clear timeline.
Mr. Maduro and his wife were arrested in Caracas by U.S. forces in January as part of Operation Absolute Resolve. He is being held in New York awaiting trial on narco-terrorism. drug-trafficking conspiracy and torture charges.
His vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has served as interim president of Venezuela since January and has been a reliable partner to the Trump administration. She oversaw the signing of a landmark oil deal that gives Washington access to a majority share of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s oil reserves.
Mr. Rubio also previewed what he called “concrete results” from the first two rounds of talks between the 2015 National Assembly and the interim government, held in August and September.
The State Department said that both sides have made “serious progress” toward reforming the Supreme Court selection process to ensure no judges are tied to the Maduro government.
The department also said Venezuela has restored access to more than 70 previously blocked internet domains, including several independent news outlets, following the first two rounds of discussions.
At the next round of talks, scheduled for Wednesday, delegates are expected to finalize the Supreme Court reform policy and discuss “providing individuals and political parties participation guarantees” for approved electoral processes.
The talks have preceded the release of 177 political prisoners, according to a State Department fact sheet, which also says the interim government has released more than 1,000 political prisoners since January.
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.