US told Venezuelan authorities that opposition leader Machado should be allowed to return

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the Trump administration told Venezuela’s interim authorities “weeks and weeks ago” that opposition leader María Corina Machado should be allowed to return as the country moves ahead with preparing for elections next year.

Rubio told reporters in a call that the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez replied to the U.S. by saying that Machado was free to enter the country. Machado returned to Venezuela over the weekend.

“Weeks and weeks ago, 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. She should be allowed to return unperturbed,’” Rubio said.

He noted that the U.S. had not discouraged Machado from returning to Venezuela except immediately after devastating earthquakes in June. He said that was because the U.S. believed the priority should be in getting humanitarian and emergency relief into the country.

Rubio spoke after Venezuelan authorities and opposition figures agreed last week on a blueprint to reform the country’s electoral process in order for free and fair elections to take place at some point in 2027. He said the Trump administration, which captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in a January military operation and brought him to the U.S. to face drug-trafficking charges, would be watching events closely and urging all sides to comply with the new process.

“Obviously, we need to use our leverage with the government for the interim authorities to ensure that the process is moving forward in a responsible way,” Rubio said. “Our goal here is to have an election.”

Machado had been in hiding in Venezuela for most of 2025 before making a clandestine escape that December to Norway, where she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She later gave her medal to President Donald Trump.

She returned to Venezuela on Sunday, her first appearance since the U.S. deposed Maduro and replaced him with Rodríguez, who had been his vice president and has now exceeded the time she was authorized to serve, with no election yet scheduled.

Rubio said the U.S. goal is to help put in a place a sustainable election architecture that will give all parties confidence in the vote.

To get there, Rubio said Venezuela must stabilize its economy and rebuild its institutions, including its courts and electoral council, and provide an open space for political expression that will hinge on press freedom and access to all media outlets, including online platforms.