Rubio Says Venezuela's Interim Government Cleared Machado's Return Weeks Before She Came Home

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday that Venezuela's interim government had informed the United States, "weeks and weeks" before she traveled, that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado could come home without interference. The U.S., he said, had made its position plain to the interim authorities: she is Venezuelan, she belongs in her country, and she should be able to return with no problems. In his account, they answered that she could fly into the airport if she wished, and the message was passed along to her team.

The disclosure came a day after Machado's return and as Washington backs an overhaul of Venezuela's judicial and electoral institutions. Rubio argues that overhaul must precede any credible presidential vote. The political landscape is unusual. U.S. military forces captured Nicolás Maduro, leaving his deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, in control. The Trump administration has worked with Rodríguez on oil extraction and other matters, while saying it expects Venezuela eventually to move to a democratically elected government. Machado has said she could run for president herself. She had left the country to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, and roughly a month after she departed, the U.S. operation took place.

No election date has been announced. Rubio nonetheless insisted the interim government is keeping to agreed deadlines for replacing the Supreme Court and the electoral council, the bodies Maduro's government long used to control political competition. "They've met every one of the timelines," he said, dismissing the idea that authorities could stall elections indefinitely. The infrastructure of the elections, he said, must change quickly, not in two, five or ten years.

Rubio also pointed to what he described as compliance with American security demands: reducing Iranian and Cuban influence, pursuing criminal organizations, and extraditing people wanted by U.S. authorities. He noted that the administration can grant or withhold sanctions relief and licenses for economic activity, which gives it leverage. The U.S., he said, has significant influence over the direction of the talks and their results.

CBS News asked whether Delcy Rodríguez and her brother Jorge, who leads the National Assembly, had been offered incentives to ease the transition, including immunity from prosecution. Rubio said there was "definitely no talk about prosecutions or anything of this nature." He did not directly say whether immunity had been offered.

Rubio said the only time he personally urged Machado not to return was right after a crisis in the country, when the focus was on flying in as many relief-aid planes as possible. Logistics, he said, were the reason. Machado has criticized parts of the administration's economic arrangements with the interim government, including an oil deal. Rubio defended it as a way to attract private investment and said her objections are separate from the question of elections. "She doesn't have to agree with it or like it," he said.

He warned that failure to reach a negotiated transition could bring a return to authoritarian rule or to armed conflict, but said he expects the interim authorities to keep cooperating. If they try to harm the process or stop complying, "we're gonna have a problem," he said, adding, "But I don't expect that. I really, really don't."

The administration has also turned attention to Cuba, urging its government to make sweeping political and economic changes. Hours after the Venezuela operation, Rubio said a Havana official should be "concerned, at least a little bit." President Trump has mulled "taking Cuba in some form" and has not ruled out military action. Last week Rubio and the CIA urged Cubans in social media posts to work with the agency if they want "positive change." Asked why that, rather than peaceful political change, Rubio said, "I can't answer that," calling Cuba "a totally different case from Venezuela."

With no election date set, the next markers are the court and electoral council replacements, and whether U.S. leverage over sanctions and licenses keeps the interim government on schedule.