Edmundo González, known by the United States as the elected president of Venezuela, met with Biden

It is believed that he won the presidential elections held in Venezuela by a large margin. But on Monday, instead of preparing to be sworn in at a palm-covered palace in Caracas, Edmundo Gonzalez was meeting with President Biden at the White House.

The first meeting for the two men signals Mr. Biden’s desire to present a broad coalition of support for Mr. Gonzalez, who met Argentina’s right-wing president Javier Miley and others at the weekend. regional presidents in the coming days.

It is part of an effort by Mr. Biden’s administration in the final days to further isolate Venezuela’s longtime autocratic leader, Nicolas Maduro, who claimed victory in the country’s July election.

“We had a long, productive and frank conversation with President Biden and his team,” Mr. Gonzalez said at a news conference outside the White House, but did not elaborate on what they discussed.

The Biden administration had no immediate comment.

Pedro Mario Burelli, a veteran Venezuelan political operative and opponent of Mr. Maduro’s movement, called the trip part of an effort to “confuse him” — to intimidate Mr. Maduro into believing that the global political tide is increasingly turning against him.

However, the meeting is unlikely to change the narrative inside Venezuela: Mr. Gonzalez, 75, was forced to flee the country shortly after millions of Venezuelans voted for him, and he now lives in exile in Spain. Over the weekend, he again vowed to return to his country to be sworn in on Friday.

“I’ll be there no matter what” Mr. Gonzalez told reporters During his visit to Argentina, he and President Miley were seen holding hands together on the balcony of the presidential palace. Mr. Miley offered his full support to Mr. Gonzalez.

But many Venezuelans are skeptical that Mr. Gonzalez will return to their country anytime soon — the government has put a $100,000 reward on his head and he faces jail time if he does.

Mr. Gonzalez’s most important political supporter is Maria Corina Machado, a conservative former lawmaker. threw his weight behind her He has been hiding in Venezuela for months after being banned from participating in the July presidential elections. In his latest video message, he continued to encourage the armed forces to come over to his side. This did not happen either.

Instead, Mr. Maduro is expected to be sworn in for another six-year term on Friday, and the real question on the nation’s mind is how the second Trump administration, which takes office on Jan. 20, will treat Mr. Maduro.

Mr. Trump’s picks for foreign policy positions include Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, his pick for secretary of state; Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida; and Mauricio Claver-Carone among them — a history of taking a hard line against Mr. Maduro. Rather than negotiating with the Venezuelan leader, they favor harsh economic sanctions aimed at squeezing him economically.

Others wonder whether Mr. Trump, who tends to make deals, will instead engage in dialogue with Mr. Maduro. The US president-elect wants to reduce migration and push one of Venezuela’s key allies, China, out of the region.

Mr. Maduro has spent the past few months detaining foreigners inside Venezuela, including several U.S. citizens now in his government’s custody, to gain leverage over Mr. Trump.

Such a dialogue could include an agreement for Mr Maduro to accept returning migrants and release US citizens in exchange for easing US sanctions that have crippled his economic power.

Some US oil executives who want to do business in Venezuela they lobbied for this approach.

But Mrs. Machado, In a recent interview with The New York Timesargued that Mr. Trump should go the sanctions route by revoking Biden-era licenses that allowed some oil companies to operate in Venezuela. Mr. Gonzalez was less vocal about what approach he wanted the Trump administration to take.

Luz Meli Reyes, a prominent Venezuelan journalist, said that while Mr. Biden’s meeting with Mr. Gonzalez marked an important moment, “Biden is leaving soon and we will have to see how Donald Trump’s administration will behave.”

So far, only one Republican official, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, has announced plans to meet with Mr. Gonzalez during his visit to the United States.

Representatives of Mr. Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

Laura Dib, a Venezuela analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights group, said Mr. Gonzalez needed stronger support from Republicans.

“I hope Rubio meets with him,” he said.

On Monday, Mr. Gonzalez was also scheduled to speak at the Organization of American States in Washington.

Ms Machado called on Venezuelans to take to the streets on Thursday to show support for Mr Gonzalez.

And despite Maduro’s government threatening to arrest him, he promised to appear publicly that day. “It’s time to act” wrote in X on Saturday. “We will see each other in the streets.”

Genevieve Glatskycontributed to the report.