Venezuelan acting president visiting New Delhi

Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s acting president, is expected to visit New Delhi later this week for official meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior Indian officials, according to Indian media reports citing official sources. The visit would come as India increases purchases of Venezuelan crude after supply disruptions linked to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz. It would also be Rodriguez’s first trip to India since she became acting president in January. Modi and Rodriguez spoke by phone on January 30 and agreed to deepen bilateral ties, according to the Indian prime minister’s office. ### When is Rodriguez expected in New Delhi? Business Standard reported on June 1 that Rodriguez was likely to visit India later this week, citing sources. The New Indian Express separately reported that she was likely to be in India from June 3. ThePrint and other Indian outlets reported that meetings with Modi and senior officials were being lined up in the capital. (business-standard.com) May 22 was the first public indication from a foreign official that the trip was imminent. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters before his own India visit that “the interim President of Venezuela will be travelling to India next week as well,” according to The Times of India. (business-standard.com) ### Why is the trip drawing attention now? India has stepped up Venezuelan crude purchases in recent weeks as it looks for alternatives to disrupted West Asian supplies, Business Standard reported. The report said India was diversifying oil import sources because of the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and had increased buying from Venezuela to offset lost cargoes from West Asia. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) Rubio tied Venezuela directly to India’s energy discussions when he said Washington wanted to sell India “as much energy as they will buy” and saw “opportunities with Venezuelan oil,” according to The Times of India. Indian authorities, the same report said, responded that energy procurement decisions were based on market economics and national interest. (business-standard.com) ### Who is Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela’s current setup? January 5 was the date Rodriguez took over as interim president, according to PTI and ThePrint reports published later that month. Her elevation followed the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro, an event that India did not publicly endorse or condemn, according to ThePrint’s earlier reporting. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) Delcy Rodriguez had already been a familiar counterpart for India before taking the acting presidency. October 25, 2024 was the date of her last recorded working visit to India as Venezuela’s executive vice president, when India’s foreign ministry said her trip would help strengthen bilateral ties. During earlier visits, she met India’s finance, foreign and petroleum ministers, according to ANI via ThePrint. (theprint.in) ### What has Modi already said about ties with Rodriguez? January 30 was the date Modi disclosed his phone call with Rodriguez. In a post cited by PTI, Modi said the two leaders agreed “to further deepen and expand” the bilateral partnership and shared a vision of taking India-Venezuela relations to “new heights in the years ahead.” (theprint.in) That exchange established direct contact between Modi and Rodriguez weeks before the current trip planning surfaced in public. It also gave both sides a formal basis for the meetings now expected in New Delhi. ### Was this visit always planned for this week? The first week of June had originally been linked to a different event. Business Standard and The Times of India reported that Rodriguez had been scheduled to visit New Delhi for the International Big Cat Alliance summit, but that meeting was postponed. (theprint.in) Business Standard said the summit was deferred because of the Ebola outbreak in Africa. New Delhi is now expected to use the same window for bilateral engagements instead. The next public marker will be Rodriguez’s arrival in the Indian capital and any official readouts from meetings with Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and other senior officials. (msn.com) (business-standard.com)