US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that he expected Venezuela's political transition to take months rather than years, ahead of a first round of negotiations between the government and the opposition.
Delegates for acting president Delcy Rodriguez and opposition representatives are due to meet this week in Caracas, on a date that has not been disclosed. It comes seven months after deposed leader Nicolas Maduro was captured in a US military raid.
Rubio's timeline
Speaking to reporters alongside Paraguayan Foreign Minister Ruben Ramirez, Rubio said the process would need some consistency and a bit of patience, not years, but months and weeks.
Rubio became the Trump administration's lead official on Venezuela policy after Maduro's fall in early January. President Donald Trump views the country mainly as a source of oil supply, a role Rubio said has grown more important amid the war with Iran and the resulting rise in crude prices.
Three phases
Rubio said Venezuela must pass through three phases: economic stabilization, political stabilization, and a full transition including elections. He said improving Venezuelans' daily economic lives would help ease that political transition, adding that transitions like those in Eastern Europe after the Iron Curtain's fall, or in Paraguay, which took nearly three and a half years, are difficult.
