Venezuelan officials allowed opposition leader Maria Corina Machado to return, Rubio says

October 26, 2026 / 8:14 PM EDT / CBS News

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.

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/world/