He is widely believed to have won the presidential election in Venezuela, and by a landslide. But on Monday, instead of preparing to be sworn in at a palm-lined palace in Caracas, Edmundo González was meeting at the White House with President Biden.

The meeting, the first for the two of them, signals the desire of Mr. Biden to present a broad coalition of support for Mr. González, who met with Argentina’s right-wing president, Javier Mileu, over the weekend, and will meet with other regional presidents in the coming days.

It is part of an effort by Mr. Biden, in the final days of his administration, to further isolate Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s longtime autocratic leader, who claims to have won the country’s July election.

“We had a long, fruitful and cordial conversation with President Biden and his team,” Mr. González said at a news conference outside the White House, but did not give any details about the topics they discussed.

The Biden administration said in the statement that the two discussed “joint efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela.”

Mr. González too met with Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for national security adviser.

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

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

“Anyway, I’ll be there,” Mr. González he told reporters during a visit to Argentina, where he and President Milei appeared together on the balcony of the presidential palace, clasping hands. Mr. Milei offered full support to Mr. González.

But many Venezuelans are skeptical that Mr. González to return to his country soon – the government has put a $100,000 bounty on his head and faces possible arrest if he returns.

González’s most important political support, María Corina Machado, a conservative former MP who threw her weight behind him after being banned from running in the July presidential election, she has been hiding in Venezuela for months. In a recent video message, she continued to urge the armed forces to come over to her side. That didn’t happen either.

Instead, it is expected that Mr. Maduro will be sworn in for another six-year term on Friday, and the real question hanging over the nation is how the second Trump administration, set to take office on January 20, will approach Mr. Maduro.

Choice of Mr. Trump for foreign policy positions — Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, his pick for secretary of state; Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida; and Mauricio Claver-Carone among them – they have a history of taking a hard line against Mr Maduro. They are more inclined to harsh economic sanctions aimed at squeezing the Venezuelan leader economically rather than negotiating with him.

Still others wonder whether Mr. Trump, who has a penchant for making deals, will instead engage in dialogue with Mr. Maduro. The newly elected US president wants to reduce migration and push one of Venezuela’s important allies, China, out of the region.

In an effort to gain leverage with Mr. Trump, Mr. Maduro has spent the past few months detaining foreigners inside Venezuela, including several American citizens now in his government’s custody.

Such a dialogue could include an agreement in which Mr. Maduro is accepting returned migrants — and releasing US citizens — in exchange for easing sanctions from the United States that have threatened his economic power.

Some American oil executives, eager to do business in Venezuela, lobbied for that approach.

But Mrs. Machado, in a recent interview with The New York Timesclaimed that Mr. Trump should have gone the sanctions route, revoking Biden-era permits that allowed some oil companies to operate in Venezuela. Mr. González was less vocal about what approach he would like the Trump administration to take.

Luz Mely Reyes, a prominent Venezuelan journalist, said that although the meeting of Mr. Biden with Mr. González marked an important moment, “Biden is leaving soon and we have to see how the administration of Donald Trump will act.”

So far, only one Republican official, Senator Rick Scott of Florida, has announced plans to meet with Mr. González 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 advocacy group, said that Mr. González needs stronger support from Republicans.

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

On Monday, Mr. González was also scheduled to appear 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. González.

And, despite the Maduro government’s threat to arrest her, she promised to appear in public that day. “The hour for action has come,” she wrote on X on Saturday. “I’ll see you on the street.”