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The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will meet this Wednesday with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at the State Department, in their first official meeting since the fall of Nicolás Maduro.
According to the official schedule released by the State Department, the meeting will be held behind closed doors at 1:00 PM (local time in Washington), following Rubio's appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to present the progress of the Trump Administration's plan in the South American country.
It also happens after this Tuesday the Cuban-American warned the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, that she "will suffer the same fate" as her predecessor if she does not meet Washington's demands.
During a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio stated that the government of Donald Trump “is prepared to use force” to ensure the complete cooperation of Venezuelan authorities if other methods of diplomatic pressure fail.
The meeting with Machado takes place just two weeks after this visit to the White House by President Donald Trump, to whom she presented a symbolic replica of her Nobel Peace Prize in gratitude for "the liberation of Venezuela from the dictatorial yoke."
The topics that Rubio and Machado will discuss in the meeting have not been revealed, but the U.S. official has tried to clarify on several occasions Trump’s statements that exclude the opposition leader from the current Venezuelan process.
"The United States oversees the reconstruction process in Venezuela, and we have already achieved concrete agreements in the oil sector and in the release of political prisoners," Rubio stated in remarks prior to the Senate.
“Now we seek to ensure that the new interim Government fulfills its commitment to democracy and human rights.”
After years of marginalization by chavismo and some international entities, María Corina Machado once again plays a leading role in the political reconfiguration of Venezuela.
His meeting with Trump in mid-January marked a turning point in the relationship between the White House and the traditional opposition, which is now included in the transition planning table.
Close sources to Machado confirmed that the leader will insist that the reconstruction process includes "free elections, justice for the victims of Chavismo, and the complete dismantling of the regime's structures."
In his appearance before the Senate on Tuesday, Rubio highlighted that Delcy Rodríguez has shown a willingness to cooperate with the United States, open the energy sector to American companies, and end the shipment of crude oil to Cuba.
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