Trump Floats Venezuela As 51st State, Delcy Rodríguez Fires Back

Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodríguez rejected President Donald Trump's suggestion that he is "seriously considering" making Venezuela the 51st state of the United States.

Rodríguez, speaking from The Hague, where she traveled for proceedings before the International Court of Justice over Venezuela's territorial dispute with Guyana, said Venezuela would defend its independence and territory after Trump's comments. The Associated Press reported that Rodríguez rejected the idea of U.S. statehood and framed Venezuela as a sovereign nation, not a territory available for annexation.

Trump's remark, made in a phone call with Fox News, according to reports, came as he said Venezuela had major oil wealth and claimed the country "loves Trump."

"When I talked to the president this morning, he kinda surprised me because he said, 'John, I just want to tell you. I'm very serious about this. I'm serious about beginning a process to make Venezuela the 51st state,.' reported Fox News journalist John Roberts.

The comment immediately raised questions about whether he was floating a serious policy, making a political provocation, or using Venezuela's natural resources as a rhetorical weapon at a moment of heightened U.S. influence in the country.

The legal reality is much colder than the headline. Under Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, new states may be admitted by Congress. That means Trump cannot unilaterally make Venezuela a state. Statehood would require congressional action, and in the case of a sovereign country such as Venezuela, consent from its people and government would be a central legal and diplomatic question.

Venezuela has spent more than two centuries as an independent republic born from anti-colonial struggle. Any suggestion of annexation by the United States would collide with nationalism across the political spectrum, even among Venezuelans who oppose Chavismo or support closer ties with Washington.

The timing also matters. Rodríguez was in the Netherlands for the ICJ case over the Essequibo, the oil-rich region controlled by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela.

Rodríguez arrived in The Hague for hearings in the long-running dispute, which Guyana brought before the court in 2018. Venezuela disputes the court's jurisdiction and argues that the matter should be resolved through negotiations under the 1966 Geneva Agreement.

That backdrop makes Trump's statehood remark even more sensitive. Venezuela is already arguing before the world that its territorial claims deserve respect. A U.S. president publicly suggesting Venezuela itself could be absorbed into the United States gives Caracas a ready-made argument about sovereignty, outside pressure, and foreign interference.

The comment also lands awkwardly because Puerto Rico, whose residents are U.S. citizens, has been voting on its own status for decades. In the 2024 Puerto Rico status referendum, statehood received 58.6% of valid votes, while free association received 29.6% and independence received 11.8%, according to certified results from Puerto Rico's State Elections Commission.

Unlike Venezuela, Puerto Rico is already a U.S. territory. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917, but the island has no voting representation in Congress and cannot vote for president in the general election unless residents move to a state. The island's statehood movement argues that Congress has ignored repeated votes while continuing to treat Puerto Rico as politically unequal.

Washington, D.C., has also been waiting. The District has more residents than some states and pays federal taxes, but it lacks voting representation in Congress. The House passed a D.C. statehood bill in 2021, but the measure did not become law in the Senate.