As Brazil's president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke from the rostrum, Delcy Rodríguez crossed much of the United Nations General Assembly hall to reach Pedro Sánchez and ask Spain to continue talks on Venezuela. The approach came during the opening of the 81st session and the general debate.
Sánchez was on the phone when Rodríguez arrived. He briefly turned away, then greeted her.
Brazilian journalist Patrícia Vasconcellos of television network SBT captured the encounter. Rodríguez waited several seconds for Sánchez to finish the call. They exchanged two kisses and a handshake. The Spanish government delegation said Sánchez told her he would continue the conversations.
The request was direct and public.
Rodríguez had been told that Sánchez was in the plenary. A member of her team guided her toward him. Diego Rubio, Sánchez's chief of staff, was seated directly behind the prime minister and was the first person in the Spanish delegation to notice her approach. The footage shows Rodríguez waiting for the call to end rather than interrupting it.
After speaking with Sánchez, she moved toward Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares. They discussed details linked to the contact, though the Venezuelan side has not provided a fuller account.
Sara Aagesen, the vice-president visible between the two men and Rodríguez, was also present. Euronews and Antena 3 described the episode as a brief exchange during the official plenary proceedings. It was not a separately scheduled bilateral meeting.
The meeting matters because the Spanish government has already invited Rodríguez to attend the Ibero-American Summit in Madrid on 4 and 5 November 2026. Her attendance has not been confirmed; the invitation remains a possibility, not a settled part of the event. Albares announced it before the summer.
The public exchange also offered a clear picture of Spain's stated willingness to keep communication open with Venezuela. As described in an earlier report, contact between Sánchez and Rodríguez had already become a visible part of Madrid's approach at the UN. La Vanguardia and elDiario placed the episode within Spain's effort to keep the Venezuela channel open, even without a fully established bilateral meeting.
There was no signed agreement or new measure. Rodríguez made her way across the hall to reach the Spanish delegation, and Sánchez answered once he ended his call. Spain's position in this episode is clear but limited: continue the conversations while leaving Rodríguez's presence at the Madrid summit undecided.
