The Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended on Saturday the need to move toward a democratic transition in Venezuela that ensures an attractive legal framework for foreign investment, in statements gathered by the State Department on its official account following an interview on the program "My View with Lara Trump" on Fox News.
"It is necessary to have laws, regulations, and rules so that investors from the United States and around the world can invest safely and generate prosperity. Ultimately, a transition is essential," stated Rubio.
The head of U.S. diplomacy described the process as a three-phase plan that Washington developed since Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in January 2026 and the Venezuelan government was led by interim president Delcy Rodríguez.
The first phase, Rubio explained, was stabilization: “We did not want the country to return to civil war, mass migration, civil unrest, and so on.”
The second phase, in which Venezuela currently finds itself, is economic recovery. The third and final phase is the transition itself, with legitimate elections at all levels.
Rubio acknowledged that the process will not be quick. "I know we are not in an era of patience and persistence, but these things take time. It's a system that has been in place for over a quarter of a century," he noted, referring to the deep roots of chavismo in the country.
The Secretary of State also noted that the recent earthquake that shook Venezuela adds complexity to the recovery phase.
On June 24, 2026, two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.1 and 7.5 struck the country, leaving an official toll of more than 5,398 deaths and a national emergency declared by Rodríguez.
Regarding the political roadmap, Rubio emphasized that the first step toward the elections is national reconciliation among sectors that have been in conflict for decades.
He proposed looking at the transition models of Eastern Europe following the fall of the Soviet Union as a reference for Venezuela.
“At some point, there must be legitimate elections at all levels so that people know that the government in place is the legitimate government elected by its people,” he stated.
The statements come at a time when María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia expressed conditional support for the dialogue process that was set to officially commence this Saturday.
However, chavismo, through Diosdado Cabello, rejected in June the existence of negotiations with Machado, highlighting the tensions that persist in the process.
Rubio defined Washington's role in this process with a single word: facilitator. "The role that the United States government can continue to play is that of facilitator for all of this," he concluded, in line with the position that he publicly confirmed on July 20 when announcing the formal start of the transition process.
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