Venezuela opposition leader Machado says won't take part in US-backed talks

CARACAS - Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on July 26 she will not participate in US-backed talks with the de facto government of Delcy Rodriguez that are scheduled for August.

In a statement co-signed by Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who ran for president in Venezuela’s 2024 elections, Machado said the opposition would “not participate” in the “design, development and operation” of the talks.

In mid-July, Rodriguez’s interim government and a group of former opposition members of Parliament from the 2015-2020 term announced a work plan for “strengthening democracy” in the country.

“It is not our place to explain its scope and decisions. Those promoting it must inform the country of its objectives, its method, and its timeline,” reads Machado’s statement, which was shared on social media.

Washington – which ousted former president Nicolas Maduro in a midnight military raid in January – had hailed the initiative as an important step toward political reconciliation in Venezuela.

With US support, exiled opposition figure Dinorah Figuera made a quick visit to Venezuela in June and met with National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez.

Machado defended Gonzalez Urrutia’s victory in the disputed 2024 presidential elections, in which Maduro was declared the winner amid allegations of fraud.

But she said on July 26 that she would not stand in the way “of any initiative that would produce real progress,” and vowed: “We will return to Venezuela.”

Rodriguez has accused the interim government of blocking her return to Venezuela following devastating twin earthquakes in June that left more than 5,000 dead. AFP