Delcy Rodríguez promises elections without a date; Machado: 'The date of the elections is the date of our liberation'

Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez has promised that "all the elections our Constitution mandates" will be held, organized by a renewed electoral body, but she did not give a date. The country's political horizon, she said, is defined not by a date on the calendar but by a set of goals, warning that elections must not "take the country back to a time of conflict that no one wants anymore."

Rodríguez also said she had ordered the security forces not to detain anyone without a court warrant. A national consultation on criminal justice reform is also under way, with technical assistance from the European Union and a request for cooperation sent to the UN Human Rights Office.

A new minister and gold in London

Oliver Blanco, a 34-year-old diplomat, has been appointed foreign minister. The outgoing minister, Félix Plasencia, appointed in July, becomes director of international affairs in the president's office, based in the United Kingdom, where he will work on recovering Venezuelan gold held at the Bank of England, "until we recover the gold that belongs to the Venezuelan people," Rodríguez said.

Machado is back

Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado unexpectedly returned to the country at the end of October. She was greeted like a star at the Andrés Bello Catholic University, and at her first press conference since returning she called for faster movement toward elections next year. "As long as the current regime is in power, none of the problems people face will be solved," she said, adding: "The date of the elections is the date of our liberation."

Analyst Geoff Ramsey told NPR that the message from Rodríguez, who appeared an hour before Machado, and in a white suit resembling the opposition leader's trademark outfit, was clear: "I am the one who governs."

Skepticism remains: Ramsey notes that in 2024 the ruling party did not respect the presidential election date agreed with the mediation of the previous US administration.

Washington restored diplomatic relations with Caracas in March, and in August Trump announced a deal under which the US would take control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves.