Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that Venezuela's interim government told the U.S. "weeks and weeks" earlier that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado could return to the country without interference, as the Trump administration pushes for a political transition that hinges on the cooperation of senior figures from Nicolás Maduro's former government. "We spoke to the interim authorities and just said, 'Look, our expectation is that she's a Venezuelan.
She belongs in her country. That's the country she's from. She should be allowed to return, and she should be allowed to return unperturbed, having no problems,'" Rubio told reporters.
"And they told us that she could fly into the airport if she wanted to. And we communicated that to her team." The disclosure came a day after Machado returned to Venezuela, and amid U.S.-backed efforts for an overhaul of the country's judicial and electoral institutions that Rubio argued are required before credible presidential elections can be held. Machado snuck out of Venezuela in late 2025 to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, after spending nearly a year in hiding.
Roughly one month after she departed the country, U.S. military forces captured Maduro and left his deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, in control. The Trump administration has collaborated with Rodriguez on oil extraction and other issues, though the U.S. has said it expects Venezuela to eventually transition to a democratically elected government. Machado has suggested that she could run for president herself.
No election date has been announced, but Rubio insisted that the interim government was adhering to agreed-upon deadlines for replacing the country's Supreme Court and electoral council, institutions long used by Maduro's government to control political competition. "We have timelines that are agreed to. And so far, they've met every one of the timelines," Rubio said, dismissing the possibility that Venezuelan authorities could indefinitely delay elections.
"You've got to change the infrastructure of the elections, not in 10 years, not in five years, not in two years," he added. "It needs to happen quickly under the timelines that we've established." Rubio cited what he described as compliance with U.S. national security demands to diminish Iranian and Cuban influence, pursue criminal organizations and extradite individuals wanted by American authorities, including former Maduro associate Alex Saab. He also pointed to the administration's ability to grant or withhold sanctions relief and licenses permitting economic activity as an incentive for the interim government to cooperate.
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