In brief
In Washington on Nov 2 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed the Trump‑era three‑phase plan for Venezuela, urging economic recovery and political reconciliation before elections. The meeting followed Maduro’s extradition and a new oil joint‑venture with North American Blue Energy Partners, while opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned to Caracas to galvanise electoral preparations.
On November 2, 2026, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco in Washington, D.C., to discuss the phased path to democracy for Venezuela, according to Al Jazeera.
The meeting followed a readout from the State Department in which Washington reaffirmed President Donald Trump’s “three‑phase plan for Venezuela: stabilization, economic recovery and political reconciliation, and democratic transition.” The three phases, the U.S. said, would conclude with a free and fair presidential election in 2027.
During the discussion, neither Rubio nor Blanco gave statements to the media, but the State Department’s readout confirmed that the U.S. still supports the phased approach and urges Venezuela to continue on the outlined path.
Al Jazeera reported that the meeting took place almost a year after U.S. forces abducted former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from Caracas and brought him to the United States to face drug‑trafficking and other charges.
In related developments, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned last week to Caracas and thanked both President Trump and Secretary Rubio for their support. She also said she was preparing to organise a movement in anticipation of the country’s upcoming elections.
“Rubio has set out a sequence of events aimed at moving toward a democratic transition that makes clear the holding of presidential elections in 2027,” she told a press conference.
“We need a clear roadmap that will lead us to the ballot box in 2027.”
Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who gifted her medal to Trump in 2025, explained that her campaign is balancing a high‑profile election effort while also dealing with the Trump administration’s ongoing oil deals with the government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez. In September, the administration announced a partnership that would give Washington a stake in roughly one‑fifth of Venezuela’s oil assets.
The U.S. said it was creating a joint venture with North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, which is behind Venezuela’s second‑largest private oil operator. Under the agreement, Caracas will grant NABEP 100‑year rights to 17 oilfields with proven reserves of 65 billion barrels. The Pentagon will hold a 35 percent stake in NABEP, and the U.S. will be guaranteed the right to buy 20 percent of its oil output at cost.
These economic measures come amid continued calls for Venezuela’s political and economic recovery. Analysts note that the phased plan is designed to stabilize the economy, reconcile key political factions, and set the stage for a transition to democratic elections, as the U.S. says it will keep monitoring progress.
Both sides of the debate stress different timelines and priorities: while the U.S. insists on a structured, multiyear transition, Venezuelan stakeholders argue for more immediate reforms and an earlier electoral window. As the story develops, the next weeks will see additional statements from the State Department, Caracas, and opposition circles as Venezuela braces for a potential shift in its political future.
