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The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado met this Tuesday with the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, at the State Department in Washington, in a meeting officially announced on X by the Official Spokesperson of Venezuela and also confirmed by the public schedule of the State Department.
The meeting, scheduled for 10:00 a.m., is the third high-level encounter between the two in less than three months, within the framework of the political transition process that Venezuela is experiencing following the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026.
The first official meeting between Rubio and Machado took place on January 28, behind closed doors at the Department of State, on the same day that the Secretary appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and noted that Machado "may be part of" the Venezuelan transition process.
After that first meeting, Machado announced that the meeting confirms the priority that President Trump's administration has assigned to the threats, challenges, and opportunities we face in the Americas, particularly in Venezuela.
On March 7, Machado held her second meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump, which also included Rubio and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, to discuss the roadmap for the transition in Venezuela.
During his stay in Washington, Machado also met with 17 senators and 27 congressmen to convey the "enormous potential" of a democratic Venezuela.
The backdrop of this new meeting is the tension between Washington's pragmatism — which is working with interim president Delcy Rodríguez on agreements in which they have already achieved concrete agreements in the oil sector — and the demands of the opposition led by Machado, which insists on free elections, justice for the victims of chavismo, and the complete dismantling of the regime's structures.
The United States formally recognized Rodríguez's interim government on March 9, following his appointment by the Supreme Court of Justice days after Maduro's capture. Meanwhile, the transition in Venezuela is uniquely Venezuelan, as Machado herself has emphasized.
Last Monday, Rubio stated that civil life is returning to Venezuela, in remarks that align with the opening of political spaces in the country, including the fact that the Machado party opened an office in Venezuela on March 28.
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