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He is widely believed to have won Venezuela\u2019s presidential election, and by a landslide. But on Monday, instead of making preparations for his swearing-in at the palm-lined palace in Caracas, Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez was at the White House meeting with President Biden.<\/p>\n
The encounter, a first for the two men, signals Mr. Biden\u2019s desire to present a broad coalition of support for Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez, who met with the right-wing president of Argentina, Javier Milei, over the weekend, and will meet with other regional presidents in the coming days.<\/p>\n
It is part of an effort by Mr. Biden, in the final days of his administration, to further isolate Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, Venezuela\u2019s longtime autocratic leader, who claims he won the country\u2019s July election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a long, fruitful and cordial conversation with President Biden and his team,\u201d Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez said at a news conference outside the White House, but he did not provide any details about the topics they discussed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Biden administration said in a statement<\/a> that the two discussed \u201cshared efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n The Maduro administration in a statement<\/a> called the meeting \u201ca flagrant violation of international law and a crude attempt to perpetuate imperialist interference in Latin America.\u201d<\/p>\n It went on to describe the Biden government as \u201cdecrepit\u201d and \u201cmired in political disrepute.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez also met with<\/a> Representative Michael Waltz of Florida, President-elect Donald J. Trump\u2019s nominee for national security adviser.<\/p>\n Pedro Mario Burelli, a veteran Venezuelan political operative and an opponent of Mr. Maduro\u2019s movement, called the visit part of an effort to \u201cfreak him out\u201d \u2014 to scare Mr. Maduro into believing that the global political tide is increasingly turning against him.<\/p>\n Yet the meeting is unlikely to change the narrative inside Venezuela: Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez, 75, was forced to flee the country shortly after millions of Venezuelans voted for him, and he is now living in exile in Spain. Over the weekend, he promised once again that he would return to his country to be sworn in on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cBy any means, I will be there,\u201d Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez told reporters<\/a> during his visit to Argentina, where he and President Milei appeared together on the balcony of the presidential palace, clasping hands. Mr. Milei offered his full support for Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n But many Venezuelans are skeptical that Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez will return to his country anytime soon \u2014 the government has placed a $100,000 bounty on his head, and he faces likely arrest if he returns.<\/p>\n Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s most important political backer, Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, a conservative former lawmaker who threw her weight behind him<\/a> after she was barred from running in the presidential election in July, has been in hiding in Venezuela for months. In a recent video message, she continued to encourage the armed forces to defect to her side. That also has not happened.<\/p>\n Instead, Mr. Maduro is expected to be sworn in for another six-year term on Friday, and the real question hanging over the nation is how a second Trump administration, set to take office on Jan. 20, will approach Mr. Maduro.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump\u2019s picks for foreign policy positions \u2014 Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, his choice for secretary of state; Representative Mike Waltz of Florida; and Mauricio Claver-Carone<\/a> among them \u2014 have a history of taking a hard line against Mr. Maduro. They favor harsh economic sanctions meant to squeeze the Venezuelan leader economically rather than negotiating with him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Yet others wonder if Mr. Trump, who has a penchant for deal-making, will instead engage in dialogue with Mr. Maduro. The U.S. president-elect is eager to reduce migration and to push one of Venezuela\u2019s important allies, China, out of the region.<\/p>\n In an effort to gain leverage over Mr. Trump, Mr. Maduro has spent the last few months detaining foreigners inside Venezuela, including several U.S. citizens who are now in his government\u2019s custody.<\/p>\n Such a dialogue could involve a deal in which Mr. Maduro accepts returned migrants \u2014 and releases U.S. citizens \u2014 in exchange for the United States\u2019 easing up on sanctions that have hobbled his economic power.<\/p>\n Some U.S. oil executives, eager to do business in Venezuela, have been lobbying<\/a> for that approach.<\/p>\n But Ms. Machado, in a recent interview with The New York Times<\/a>, argued that Mr. Trump should take the sanctions route, revoking Biden-era licenses that have allow some oil companies to work in Venezuela. Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez has been less vocal about what approach he would like the Trump administration to take.<\/p>\n Luz Mely Reyes, a prominent Venezuelan journalist, said that while Mr. Biden\u2019s meeting with Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez marked an important moment, \u201cBiden is leaving soon, and we have to see how the government of Donald Trump will act.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n So far, just one Republican official, Senator Rick Scott of Florida, has announced plans to meet with Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez during his visit to the United States.<\/p>\n Representatives for Mr. Trump\u2019s transition team did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Laura Dib, a Venezuela analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights advocacy group, said Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez needed a stronger show of support from Republicans.<\/p>\n \u201cI am hoping for Rubio to meet with him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n On Monday Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez was also to appear at the Organization of American States in Washington.<\/p>\n Ms. Machado has called for Venezuelans to head to the streets on Thursday to show their support for Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n And, despite the Maduro government\u2019s threat to arrest her, she has promised to appear in public that day. \u201cThe hour has come to act,\u201d she wrote on X on Saturday<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ll see each other in the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n