Business & Economics
Rodríguez Agrees to First U.S. Bilateral Visit by a Venezuelan President Since 1997
On 22 Jan 2026 Washington confirmed that interim president Delcy Rodríguez accepted an invitation to travel to the U.S., signalling a rapid post-Maduro thaw after decades of hostility.
Focusing Facts
- If the trip occurs, Rodríguez will be the first sitting Venezuelan head of state to make a non-UN U.S. visit in roughly 29 years, the last being Rafael Caldera in 1997.
- One day before the announcement (21 Jan 2026), Rodríguez reshuffled the military, naming 12 new regional commanders to consolidate control.
- U.S. Delta Force seized Nicolás Maduro on 3 Jan 2026, and a U.S. naval flotilla remains stationed off Venezuela’s coast during the transition.
Context
The scene echoes the 1954 CIA-engineered overthrow of Guatemala’s Jacobo Árbenz—also justified by narcotics and corruption claims—but updated for an oil-hungry, climate-transitioning 2020s America. Washington is testing a ‘light-footprint’ model: surgical extraction of Maduro, sanctions leverage and investor carrots instead of the 2003 Iraq-style occupation it now regrets. The move fits a longer trend of U.S. re-assertion in its traditional sphere of influence amid waning Chinese and Russian latitude, and of resource-rich states swapping anti-imperial rhetoric for market access when coffers run dry. Whether this visit cements a durable partnership or merely replays the boom-bust dependence that followed the 1908 Gómez oil concessions will shape Latin American geopolitics. On the century scale it could mark either the reintegration of Venezuela into a U.S.-led energy order—or just another oscillation in the country’s 200-year struggle between nationalist sovereignty and foreign-backed pragmatism.
Perspectives
Business and financial press
e.g., Yahoo! Finance — Treats Delcy Rodriguez’s Washington outreach chiefly as a green-light for Chevron, ExxonMobil and other U.S. majors to pour money into the world’s largest oil reserves. By foregrounding investment prospects and quoting market analysts, it sidelines questions about democratic legitimacy or U.S. military intervention because its readership and advertisers profit from a bullish outlook.
International outlets carrying the AFP wire
e.g., Vanguard, Inquirer — Cast the visit as a dramatic U-turn in U.S.–Venezuela relations driven largely by Trump’s appetite for cheap oil while democracy activists fume over unreformed authoritarianism. Heavy reliance on the same wire copy amplifies a narrative of U.S. ‘hemispheric imperialism,’ but the formulaic reporting may exaggerate Washington’s oil grab and underplay local political dynamics to keep the story punchy.
Indian and regional broadcasters
e.g., WION, Al-Arabiya — Highlight the ‘historic’ nature of a first Venezuelan leader’s U.S. trip in 25 years, framing it as pragmatic thawing of ties after Maduro’s removal and noting Trump’s prioritisation of oil over regime change. The snapshot, sound-bite style stresses diplomatic spectacle and Trump’s realpolitik to hook global audiences, but offers little scrutiny of the Pentagon raid or Venezuela’s internal power struggles.