Weekly Report - 24 September 2026 (WR-26-38)

Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña has paid a visit to Venezuela to meet President Delcy Rodríguez. This signals a major diplomatic shift for one of the region’s traditionally more vocal critics of the ruling Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV). The visit is the latest sign of changing regional relations with Caracas following the US military capture of Venezuela’s former president Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026) in January and Rodríguez’s subsequent cooperation with the US government of President Donald Trump. Against this backdrop, governments with close ties to Washington, including Paraguay and Chile under President José Antonio Kast, have moved to normalise relations with Venezuela.