WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Venezuela is not yet ready to hold elections following the US military operation that removed Nicolás Maduro from power, declining to set a timetable for a return to the polls.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said the transition was still at an early stage and that Venezuela needed more time before elections could be held. He also praised interim President Delcy Rodríguez, saying she was doing a “very, very good job” and was highly respected.
“I just don’t think they’re ready yet. You know, it’s very new,” Trump said when asked why he was not pressing the Venezuelan government to establish a firm election date. He added that Washington wanted elections and that Rodríguez also supported them, but said the country was not prepared yet.
Maduro was captured by US forces in January and taken out of office after the operation, with Rodríguez subsequently assuming the role of interim president. The Trump administration has defended the intervention as an effort to remove what the president described as a harsh dictatorship.
The absence of a timetable for elections has become a central question in Venezuela’s political transition. Trump said he expected a vote eventually, but gave no indication of when conditions would be considered sufficient for one.
Rodríguez struck a similar note on Wednesday. Speaking after a meeting with US Energy Secretary Chris Wright at the presidential palace in Caracas, she said she did not set election dates but insisted that an electoral process would take place when Venezuela was ready.
“I don’t set dates,” Rodríguez said, according to Reuters. “There will be an electoral process,” she added, stressing that the government was working to prepare the country for it.
Her comments came as Washington and Caracas announced a major agreement concerning Venezuela’s oil industry. The timing has placed the political transition alongside a broader US effort to rebuild the country’s energy sector and establish closer economic ties with the interim government.
The Trump administration has described the transition in stages, with stabilisation and economic recovery preceding elections. US officials have said conditions inside Venezuela, including the restoration of democratic institutions and an electoral environment considered credible, would need to improve before a vote could be organised.
The question of who should lead Venezuela democratically remains contested. Opposition leader María Corina Machado has argued that only a legitimate, democratic government can provide the stability needed for long-term investment in the country’s oil industry. She has also criticised arrangements made by the interim authorities, arguing that Venezuela’s natural resources should ultimately be managed with democratic legitimacy.
The US has nevertheless continued working with Rodríguez’s administration. Washington has backed efforts to expand oil production and attract international energy companies, while maintaining that elections will come after the country is considered ready.
The lack of a firm electoral date leaves the timetable for Venezuela’s political transition uncertain. Trump said only that elections would take place later, while Rodríguez offered no specific schedule.
