More than half a year after a U.S. military operation removed Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela, the White House is signaling there’s no election on the horizon yet — despite earlier promises that a vote would follow his departure.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president said Venezuela remains unready for elections, even as he praised the progress made under acting president Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy, who has been allowed to stay in power. He suggested elections would happen eventually, but offered no timeline, and instead pivoted to praising the country’s oil exports and the revenue the U.S. is drawing from them.
The remarks came as Maduro himself remains in U.S. custody awaiting trial next year on drug trafficking charges. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously said any path to elections requires Venezuela to first establish a free press and a new, independent electoral commission — conditions that opposition figures argue give the acting government wide latitude to delay indefinitely.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who has said she expects to win any free vote by an overwhelming margin, has been openly critical of how the transition has unfolded, and has accused the acting government of maintaining ties to Russia, China and Iran. For now, the country remains in an unusual holding pattern: a leader gone, a U.S.-tolerated caretaker government in place, and no firm date for the democratic process Washington originally cited as its goal.