Venezuelan officials allowed Maria Corina Machado to return, Rubio says

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.

"The United States has significant influence over the direction that these talks go and the results that we get from them," Rubio said.

Asked by CBS News whether Rodriguez and her brother Jorge, who leads Venezuela's National Assembly, had been offered incentives to facilitate the transition — including immunity from prosecution — Rubio said there was "definitely no talk about prosecutions or anything of this nature." He did not directly address whether immunity had been offered.

Rubio said the only time he personally discouraged Machado from returning was immediately after a devastating earthquake, citing the need to prioritize humanitarian relief operations.

"And the reason why it was very simple, because right at that moment, the only thing we were focusing on from a logistical standpoint was getting as many planes with relief aid as possible into the country," Rubio said.

Machado has criticized aspects of the Trump administration's economic deals with Venezuela's interim government, including a U.S.-backed oil deal announced by President Trump earlier this year. Rubio defended the agreement as a means of attracting private investment, saying her objections were separate from the question of democratic elections.

"She doesn't have to agree with it or like it," he said of the oil deal.

Rubio warned that failure to reach a negotiated transition could result in a return to an authoritarian system – or to armed conflict – but expressed confidence that the interim authorities would continue cooperating.

"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."

Since Maduro's ouster, the Trump administration has suggested Cuba is also in its sights, urging the island's government to make sweeping political and economic changes. Rubio said hours after the Venezuela operation that "if I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned, at least a little bit," pointing to Cuba's alliance with Venezuela. Mr. Trump has mulled "taking Cuba in some form," and hasn't ruled out military action. 

Last week, Rubio and the CIA urged Cubans in social media posts to work with the agency if they want to see "positive change."

Asked why he encouraged Cubans to work with the CIA rather than pursue peaceful political change, Rubio said, "I can't answer that."

He added that Cuba needed "very dramatic change" and was "a totally different case from Venezuela."