Set This Date?

In case you missed it, on Friday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz confirmed that Venezuela's "interim president" Delcy Rodríguez will be in New York this week for the UN General Assembly (UNGA), and Donald Trump — and presumably Marco Rubio — will meet with her in an informal "pull-aside." 

It will be the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a Venezuelan leader since Barack Obama met with Nicolás Maduro at the Summit of the Americas in Panama in 2015.

For what it's worth, this won't be Delcy's first time at the UNGA. She's attended in the past as Venezuela's foreign minister and Maduro's vice president, during which she accused the United States of "state terrorism" for placing sanctions on Venezuela and accused Trump himself of using his "imperialist claws."  

A reminder: Up until January 3, 2026, this woman spent her entire life as a Marxist with a strong anti-U.S. agenda. 

Which is exactly why this meeting isn't sitting well with many people, including some of Trump's biggest allies. They're saying that if he's going to do this, the least he can do is take the path toward Venezuelan elections a little more seriously and ensure the country gets a truly democratically elected leader in there who will work with the U.S. going forward. And obviously, that can't happen right away, but we could set a goal and speed it up a bit. 

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) is the latest to speak out on the topic. He appeared on Fox & Friends Weekend on Sunday, and while he praised Trump's Venezuelan oil deal, stating that it will eventually benefit both of our countries greatly, he proposed a special date for elections in 2027.  

"Absolutely, we need to have elections in Venezuela," he said. "Obviously, they're not ready for elections today, but I think it's extremely important to set a date."  

Here's more on the date he chose and why:   

I've suggested July 24 of next year — that's Simón Bolívar's birthday. Previous elections have been on [Hugo] Chávez's birthday, as you know, Simón Bolívar was the liberator of Venezuela and Latin America, and President Trump is the modern liberator of Venezuela... so July 24, let's go.

[...]

Set that date, so everybody can shoot for that date to get things done.  

Host Rachel Campos-Duffy also asked Moreno what he thought about opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner María Corina Machado's plans to go back to the country soon. He said that ultimately, she's a free person and can do what she wants, and it would be a test for the Delcy regime. He also said what many of us have been saying for months — Delcy is  buying time, too, hoping she can stay in power until Democrats potentially regain control of the United States.  

She should go back whenever she feels she wants to go back. I mean, she's a free person. That will certainly test the regime's grip on power. They've gotten dramatically unpopular since the earthquake. If not for the U.S., Venezuela would be completely a nonexistent nation. Delcy, again, I think is somebody who smiles and waves for the cameras, tells us what we want to hear, but ultimately, she's trying to buy her time, hoping that there will be some crazy Democratic administration that will restore socialism in Venezuela. It's not going to happen. I think setting that election date is the most important thing we can do.

But it's also important for everybody to understand, had President Trump not acted, Venezuela would be a completely failed nation. So, the absolute opportunities for the people of Venezuela and the people of the United States are immense, but we need to have that election date. 

Just as Simón Bolívar liberated Venezuela nearly 200 years ago, President Trump has liberated Venezuela from dictatorship. President Trump’s historic oil deal securing American majority control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan reserves is a win for American energy dominance… pic.twitter.com/zff2pCfZC3

— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) September 20, 2026

Speaking of Machado, she sat down with the Wall Street Journal for an interview that came out on Friday, and she says the moment to return has arrived. She didn't give specifics about when or how, but says she cannot be a leader from abroad. If you'll remember, Machado lived in hiding in Venezuela for over a year and a half and escaped in December 2025 in a scene fit for a Hollywood blockbuster to receive her Nobel Prize, the medal for which she later gave to President Trump. She's been spending her time in Europe, the United States, and other parts of Latin America meeting with the Venezuelan diaspora, investors, and politicians ever since. 

She says her presence would channel energy toward elections better than the chaos led by Delcy. Her plan would be to visit every state and actually talk to the people on the ground, a grassroots campaign much like the one she ran leading up to the 2024 elections that she would have won easily had Maduro not stepped in and prevented her from running. She won the opposition primary with something like 90% of the vote. The candidate she ended up throwing her support behind, Edmundo González, had about 70% of the vote, which wasn't fully counted, when Maduro stopped everything and declared himself the winner.  

Machado mentioned Trump and Rubio, stating that she still has a good relationship with them and supports their current efforts. She views her return as a contribution to the current plan rather than a challenge. She, like many people in the United States, believes that a democratic Venezuelan government would be a more reliable U.S. ally on intelligence, drugs, and border crime.

She also acknowledges the risks. Diosdado Cabello himself has said that he is waiting for her. And as I reported last week, another major opposition figure returned to the country after spending two years in exile in Spain and was kidnapped by the regime less than 48 hours after his return. He has since been freed, but it was signal that Venezuela is not yet rid of tyranny.

Machado's also a fan of Moreno's July 24, 2027 election date. Her party, Vente Venezuela, endorsed it on social media on Sunday, as have numerous other Venezuelan opposition leaders and supporters. 

24 de julio 2027. pic.twitter.com/UZyhkWO2JZ

— Vente Venezuela (@VenteVenezuela) September 20, 2026

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are once again respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.

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