María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia released a joint statement this Sunday expressing conditional support for the dialogue process between chavismo and a sector of the opposition that will officially begin next Saturday, August 1st.
Opposition leaders clarified that they did not participate in the "design, construction, and operation" of that negotiating pathway, led by the president of the chavista National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, and former opposition deputy Dinorah Figuera.
In the statement, Machado and González indicated that they will evaluate the process "based on concrete and verifiable achievements: the recovery of democratic institutions, the release of all political prisoners, real guarantees for all actors without exclusions, a timely presidential electoral timeline, and full respect for popular sovereignty."
Both leaders also demanded that Figuera and Rodríguez inform the country about "their objectives, their method, and their timeline."
"That is what our people demand, and that is what we will be attentive to," they stated, adding that they will not be "an obstacle to any initiative that brings about real progress."
The conversations between Figuera and Rodríguez —brother of the acting Venezuelan president, Delcy Rodríguez— had their first contact on June 18 at the Federal Legislative Palace in Caracas, just before the devastating earthquakes that shook Venezuela.
The process was temporarily interrupted by the earthquakes on June 24, 2026, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, which resulted in more than 5,398 deaths, at least 16,740 injuries, and nearly 18,000 people left homeless, according to the cumulative report as of last week.
Regarding the tragedy, Machado and González stated in the announcement that "the help organized by the people themselves was attempted to be blocked, diverted, and controlled so that it would not reach those who needed it most," and they called for "a new government with moral authority and managerial capacity" to address the reconstruction.
The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, confirmed on July 20 that the 2015 National Assembly and the Venezuelan interim government agreed to create a joint forum to formally begin the political transition process, with the initial discussions scheduled for the first week of August.
Rubio described the agreement as a "very significant proposal" and assured that Washington will participate "very actively" in the process.
Figuera, who returned to Venezuela after eight years of exile in Spain at the invitation of the State Department, declared last Thursday that Machado is "very important in this process."
Machado, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2025, is currently outside Venezuela and has reported obstacles to entering the country, while insisting that he has "the responsibility to lead" negotiations with Delcy Rodríguez's government.
In the statement issued this Sunday, the opposition leader and González also announced their intention to return to Venezuela to "support the people, travel across the country, and build" a national agreement for reconstruction, although they did not specify dates or details on how this return will take place.
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