Rubio meets Venezuela's foreign minister after electoral reform agreement

Trump administration urges faster preparations for possible 2027 elections

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco at the State Department in Washington on Monday. The meeting was one of the highest-level encounters between a senior Trump administration official and a counterpart from acting President Delcy Rodríguez’s government. Rubio and Blanco did not speak to reporters before posing for photographs ahead of the meeting.

The Trump administration has stepped up efforts to press Rodríguez’s interim government and opposition groups to make quick progress on preparations for elections that could be held in 2027. The meeting came two weeks after Venezuelan authorities and opposition figures agreed on a blueprint to reform the country’s electoral process.

The blueprint was intended to allow free and fair elections at some point in 2027. In his last significant comments about Venezuela, made last week, Rubio said the Trump administration, which ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro in a January military operation, would watch events closely and urge all sides to comply with the new process.

In those comments, Rubio said the goal was to help put in place “a sustainable election architecture that will give all parties confidence in the vote.” Rubio’s statement made compliance with the agreed process and confidence in the vote the administration’s stated priorities.

Washington’s contacts with Rodríguez’s government included a meeting between Rodríguez and Trump on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in September. Energy Secretary Chris Wright also met Rodríguez and senior Venezuelan officials in Caracas in August to seal a massive oil deal.

Rodríguez took over in Venezuela after a surprise U.S. military raid in January that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges, which Maduro denies.

Rubio’s previous outreach included the speakers of Venezuela’s current and former parliament and opposition leader María Corina Machado. Machado returned to the country last month.

The reform blueprint points to free and fair elections at some point in 2027. The administration’s stated priorities are quick progress on preparations, compliance by all sides and confidence in the vote.