Venezuela’s Rodríguez Says Caracas Ready to Work With U.S. on Joint Development

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez announced her government is prepared to cooperate with the United States on joint development, signaling a significant diplomatic shift.

Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president, has said her government is ready to cooperate with the United States under a framework of “joint development,” adopting a conciliatory tone for the first time since the detention of Nicolás Maduro.

Reuters reported on Monday, January 5, that Rodríguez said in a statement her government seeks to establish respectful relations with Washington and has invited the United States to engage in cooperation based on international law.

Her remarks mark a notable shift from earlier statements, when Rodríguez described the arrest of Maduro and his wife as an “abduction” and insisted that Maduro remained Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

The change in rhetoric comes amid heightened tensions between Caracas and Washington, following months of political pressure, sanctions, and diplomatic standoffs over Venezuela’s governance and energy sector.

Analysts say the overture may reflect Venezuela’s growing economic strain and its desire to ease international isolation, particularly as oil revenues remain critical to stabilizing the country’s battered economy.

Relations between the United States and Venezuela have been severed for years, with Washington recognizing opposition figures instead of the Caracas leadership and imposing sweeping sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry.

The United States has repeatedly linked any normalization of ties to democratic reforms, cooperation on counter-narcotics efforts, and guarantees for foreign investment, especially in the energy sector.

The U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that if Venezuela fails to cooperate with U.S. efforts to reopen the oil industry and curb drug trafficking, he could authorize a second military strike.

Trump has also threatened potential military action against Colombia and Mexico and claimed that Cuba’s government “appears ready to collapse,” though embassies of the countries mentioned have so far declined to comment.

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