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Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, has announced that elections will be held as part of a transition to “full democracy”, but did not specify a date.<\/b><\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez was sworn in just days after her predecessor in office, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, was seized by US forces and taken to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. <\/p>\n
She has enjoyed the backing of the Trump administration despite her previously close ties to Maduro.<\/p>\n
The opposition in Venezuela has slammed her for not setting even a tentative date for elections.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Rodr\u00edguez insisted that “there will be elections in Venezuela” and that the Venezuelan people would determine “the right moment” when to hold them.<\/p>\n
The interim president, who was a close ally of Maduro and served as his vice-president until his ouster by the US, did not mention the jailed former leader once.<\/p>\n
Less than nine months after the US raid on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in which the presidential couple was seized and about 100 people killed, she instead thanked US President Donald Trump “for his willingness to take the path of diplomatic relations and cooperation”.<\/p>\n
She also said that her government and the Trump administration were “working seriously to resolve existing differences through dialogue”, adding that the two nations were paving “the way for energy relations, the promotion of security, the common fight against transnational crime and economic cooperation for the benefit of both peoples and our continent”.<\/p>\n
Unlike Rodr\u00edguez, President Trump did make ample references to Maduro during his speech to the assembly, calling him an “outlaw dictator, a real criminal”.<\/p>\n
Trump also celebrated the signing of what he said was “the largest oil deal in history covering 65bn barrels of oil” which the US has struck with Rodr\u00edguez’s interim government. <\/p>\n
“To the victor belong the spoils,” he stated, adding that “if necessary, we will use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interest of the United States”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n