Diosdado Cabello, Minister of the Interior and General Secretary of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), firmly ruled out any negotiation between the government of acting president Delcy Rodríguez and opposition leader María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize 2025.
The statements were made during the weekly press conference of the PSUV, broadcasted by the state channel Venezolana de Televisión, and respond to the opposition's call to negotiate a democratic transition with the support of the United States.
"They are trucks and trucks of straw."
Cabello was categorical when addressing the rumors about contacts between the government and the opposition: “They are purely nonsense.”
He expanded his response with an image that left no room for doubt:
“They are trucks and trucks of straw. They come, they create their own story: that they gathered, that there were meetings. Pure straw. That’s not vulgarity; it’s grass. It’s their imagination at work.”
The minister was even more direct when referring to the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) and Machado in particular: “There is nothing on the table with them, and even less so with her.”
Regarding the rumors generated by Rodríguez's stop in Istanbul—where he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan—Cabello was equally emphatic:
"There has been no meeting anywhere in the world between the president and any character resembling that."
“They create their own history, tell it to themselves, and start to repeat it,” he added.
Cabello rejects the opposition's conditions
Machado had proposed as requirements for negotiating the full release of the more than 400 political prisoners imprisoned in Venezuela, the safe return of exiles, and the dismantling of the repressive apparatus.
Cabello responded with disdain: “What conditions? They are not in a position, to use the term, to impose conditions on anyone in this country.”
The minister invoked Hugo Chávez's legacy to argue that Venezuela has a tradition of dialogue, but he made it clear that this does not imply conceding to the opposition
“Venezuela has been undergoing a process of continuous dialogue since Commander Hugo Chávez came to power. We know about dialogue. But nothing is proposed with them. And even less with her,” he reiterated.
The "Panama Manifesto" that triggered the response from Chavismo
Cabello's statements respond to a historic turn of the opposition: the Manifesto of Panama published by Machado, released on May 28 and 29, 2026, after a conclave in that country featuring Machado, Edmundo González Urrutia, Leopoldo López, and Antonio Ledezma.
In that document, the PUD expressed its "determination to promote a serious, firm, and responsible political negotiation with the interim regime to restore democracy in Venezuela with the support of the Government of the United States."
It was an unprecedented announcement: Machado, who had historically refused to negotiate with chavismo, declared her willingness to lead the negotiating team to build "a great national agreement" that would lead to free presidential elections.
Days earlier, Machado had reiterated in an interview with journalist Carla Angola from Oslo that he has "the responsibility to lead the negotiation process" and warned that "anything can happen" in Venezuela if the transition is not carried out in an orderly manner and with guarantees.
The post-Maduro scenario
This exchange takes place in the context of post-capture Venezuela of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3, 2026 in Caracas.
Delcy Rodríguez swore in as acting president on January 5, 2026, before the Supreme Court of Justice under the status of "forced absence."
The Trump administration proposed a three-phase plan for Venezuela—stabilization, economic recovery, and elections—and has expressed its "satisfaction" with Rodríguez's presidency, which has promoted oil and mining reforms that open the doors to private and foreign capital.
Machado has announced that she will soon return to Venezuela and will be a candidate in any upcoming presidential elections, although she has not confirmed any dates. Cabello's response clearly shows that Chavismo, at least for now, has no intention of sitting down to negotiate under any of the conditions set by the opposition.
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