Trump Reportedly Told Venezuela’s Leaders Elections Need To Happen. She Said Yes, But Not When.

Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez said she will facilitate the holding of elections to transition to a "full democracy." However, she didn't give a specific date.

"I want to make this very clear at this General Assembly: there will be elections in Venezuela," Rodriguez said in a passage of her address. She rose to power after the U.S. captured authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro in January, agreeing to have a close relationship with the Trump administration.

Elsewhere in the address, Rodriguez said institutions are being prepared for the elections and her administration would guarantee the participation of all political forces. She has also began talks with the opposition.

The top leader of the opposition, Maria Corina Machado, recently said she has been prevented from returning to the country, from which she escaped earlier this year to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She is currently exiled in Panama.

"Venezuela has initiated a process of democratic transformation for its rebirth, an orderly, ​institutional, and verifiable process, to build a country that is freer for all, more prosperous, and more reconciled with itself," she said.

An Axios report detailed that President Donald Trump told Rodriguez in their first meeting that Venezuela needs to have elections in the horizon. "You have to have elections at the end of the day," Trump said during the meeting, according to a source briefed in the meeting.

The meeting lasted about 15 minutes and took place on the sidelines of the UNGA. There, Trump reportedly thanked Rodriguez for their warm working relationship since the capture of Maduro.

Ever since, the U.S. has announced agreements involving Venezuelan crude reserves, including a deal with North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), a private oil company that received concessions to develop additional reserves.

According to reports, NABEP granted the U.S. government a 35% ownership stake along with a guaranteed supply arrangement tied to future crude production. Chevron has also expanded its plans in Venezuela. The company announced a multibillion-dollar investment strategy aimed at increasing its Venezuelan production by 2031, including expansion into additional oil fields.

Elsewhere, Continental Resources, the Oklahoma-based oil company founded by billionaire Harold Hamm, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela's state-owned oil company to develop and operate a major crude-producing region in the country's resource-rich Orinoco Belt.

The agreement allows Continental to develop the Ayacucho-2 block, an area spanning approximately 126,000 acres that contains an estimated 30 billion barrels of oil reserves, according to the company.

The Orinoco Belt holds the majority of Venezuela's estimated 303 billion barrels of oil reserves, the largest proven reserves in the world. However, years of challenges have caused Venezuela's oil production to fall dramatically from previous decades.

President Donald Trump has urged American oil companies to help develop Venezuela's vast reserves, although many publicly traded energy companies have remained cautious about committing capital because of political, legal, and operational uncertainties.