Rubio says Venezuela's interim rulers told the US 'weeks and weeks' ago that María Corina Machado could return home
María Corina Machado, who posted "I am here. With you," on X as her party shared photos of her in a church in Lara State, returning to Venezuela after months in exile to demand new elections.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington told Delcy Rodríguez's interim government that Machado 'belongs in her country' and must return 'unperturbed'. US officials had previously signalled privately that they did not support her return, and her travel was blocked. Rubio insists the interim government has met every agreed deadline to replace the Supreme Court and electoral council. No election date has been set.
Machado slipped in from Colombia on Sunday and posted: 'I am here. With you all.'
President Trump admitted he knew nothing of it: 'She gave me her Nobel Prize.'
The Nobel laureate has hinted she could run for Venezuela's presidency herself.
