Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the Trump administration told Venezuela’s interim authorities weeks ago that opposition leader María Corina Machado should be allowed to return home. Machado returned to Venezuela over the weekend after more than 10 months in exile, and crowds of supporters greeted her on the road to Caracas.
Rubio told reporters that the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez replied that Machado was free to enter the country. He said the only time he personally discouraged her return was right after the earthquakes in June, when the priority was getting relief aid into Venezuela.
Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, left Venezuela secretly in December to collect the prize and spent recent weeks in Panama. She re-entered the country over the weekend and appeared at a shrine in Barquisimeto, where supporters surrounded her.
Her return comes as Venezuelan authorities and opposition figures agreed last week on a blueprint to reform the electoral process, with free elections expected at some point in 2027. Rubio said the administration would watch events closely and press all sides to follow the new process.
Source: CNN
