Delcy Rodríguez, the acting president of Venezuela following the U.S. capture and arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, offered a conciliatory message to the United States and President Trump on Sunday.
Rodriguez invited the U.S. to collaborate with her government in strengthening “coexistence,” just a day after she had struck a defiant tone by saying Maduro was the only president of Venezuela.
It was a sharp turn from her initial statements following the U.S. attack on Venezuela over the weekend that resulted in Maduro’s arrest.
“We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” Rodríguez said in a post on Instagram.
“President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war. This has always been President Nicolás Maduro’s message, and it is the message of all of Venezuela right now,” the post continued.
Rodríguez had given an intense defense of Maduro in a speech Saturday, only hours after the captured leader was indicted on drug charges and sent to New York.
“There is only one president in Venezuela, and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros,” Rodríguez said during a televised address.
Trump threatened Rodriguez on Sunday, saying “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” in an interview with The Atlantic.
At the same time, reports initially emerged that Trump saw Rodriguez as someone who could handle a redevelopment of the Venezuelan oil sector, and as someone the U.S. could work with. Trump notably did not offer a public endorsement of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, instead saying she “doesn’t have the support” to lead the country.
Rodríguez said in her post Sunday that her country “has the right to peace, development, sovereignty and a future.”
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