Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Venezuela's interim government assured the United States "weeks and weeks" ago that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado could return to her country without interference. The comments come as the Trump administration pushes for a political transition that depends on the cooperation of senior figures from Nicolás Maduro's former government.
Rubio told reporters that U.S. officials had made their position plain to the interim authorities. "Our expectation is that she's a Venezuelan. She belongs in her country," he said, adding that she should be allowed to return "unperturbed, having no problems." According to Rubio, the interim authorities replied that she could fly into the airport if she wished, and the message was passed on to her team.
The disclosure followed a day after Machado's trip to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. About a month after she left Venezuela, U.S. military forces captured Maduro and left his deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, in charge. The administration has worked with Rodríguez on oil extraction and other matters, though it has said it expects Venezuela to eventually move to a democratically elected government. Machado has said she could run for president.
No election date has been set. Rubio nonetheless insisted that the interim government was keeping to agreed deadlines for replacing the Supreme Court and the electoral council, two institutions long used by Maduro's government to control political competition. "So far, they've met every one of the timelines," he said, rejecting the idea that authorities could delay elections indefinitely. He said the election infrastructure must change quickly, "not in 10 years, not in five years, not in two years."
Rubio also cited what he described as Venezuelan compliance with U.S. national security demands. These include reducing Iranian and Cuban influence, going after criminal organizations and extraditing people wanted by American authorities. He pointed to Washington's power to grant or withhold sanctions relief and licenses for economic activity as leverage over the interim government. "The United States has significant influence over the direction that these talks go," he said.
Asked by CBS News whether Rodríguez and her brother Jorge, who leads the National Assembly, had been offered incentives such as immunity from prosecution, Rubio said there was "definitely no talk about prosecutions or anything of this nature." He did not directly say whether immunity had been offered.
Rubio said the only time he personally discouraged Machado from returning was right after a disaster, when the focus was on flying in as much relief aid as possible. He also addressed her criticism of the administration's economic arrangements with the interim government, including an oil deal. He defended it as a way to attract private investment and said her objections were separate from the question of democratic elections. "She doesn't have to agree with it or like it," he said.
He warned that failure to reach a negotiated transition could bring a return to authoritarian rule or armed conflict, but said he expected continued cooperation. "If that's the interim authorities that try to do harm to this process or stop complying, then we're gonna have a problem," he said. "But I don't expect that. I really, really don't."
Rubio was also asked about Cuba, which the administration has signaled is its next focus. President Trump has mulled "taking Cuba in some form" and has not ruled out military action. Last week, Rubio and the CIA urged Cubans in social media posts to work with the agency if they want "positive change." Asked why he encouraged that over peaceful political change, Rubio said, "I can't answer that." He said Cuba needs "very dramatic change" and is "a totally different case from Venezuela."
