The White House reportedly requested that María Corina Machado stop by Washington before returning to Venezuela, according to a recent analysis by journalist David Alandete, correspondent for the newspaper ABC at the White House.
According to Alandete, the request responds to the urgency of the Trump administration to express closeness to the Venezuelan opposition at a politically sensitive time.
The trigger is the unpopular oil deal that Donald Trump announced on August 29 as “the largest oil deal in history,” signed directly with the chavista regime led by Delcy Rodríguez.
The agreement involves 17 Venezuelan oil fields with estimated reserves of about 65 billion barrels, lasting for 25 years and with a 35% participation from the United States through the company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), linked to Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, who has a history of investigations in the U.S., Switzerland, and Spain.
The agreement has proven to be very unpopular among the Venezuelan diaspora in Florida, a key electorate for the Republicans in light of the midterm elections on November 3, in which the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate will be renewed.
"Now there is a desire for María Corina Machado to come to Washington, to be here and somehow express her support for this agreement that Donald Trump is relying on," Alandete explained, noting that "from here, from Washington, the need has been conveyed to María Corina Machado and her team for her to stop by here before returning to Venezuela."
Machado broke her silence regarding the agreement on September 3, expressing "sadness and anger," and raised direct questions: who exactly signs the pact, what guarantees exist, what benefits does Venezuela receive, and what real control do Venezuelans have over their own resources.
"The wealth of Venezuelan soil does not belong to any illegitimate regime," affirmed the opposition leader, adding that "to attract real investments, it is not enough to have money; legitimacy is needed, the rule of law is needed, transparency is needed, and legal security is needed."
Machado made it clear that he does not oppose U.S. involvement in the reconstruction of Venezuela, but he drew a red line: "Only a democratically elected government that truly represents the feelings of Venezuelans and genuinely upholds popular sovereignty is the only one that can sign an agreement of this nature".
The tension between Machado and Washington has been building since January. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, Trump chose to work with Delcy Rodríguez instead of conceding political prominence to the democratic opposition.
Machado visited the White House on January 15 —where he symbolically presented Trump with his Nobel Peace Prize medal— and returned on March 6 with a roadmap for the transition. On both occasions, he received the same message: patience.
In June, following the earthquakes that struck Venezuela on the 24th of that month, Machado attempted to return twice, according to the correspondent from ABC at the White House. First, on a private plane from Virginia to Curaçao, where Dutch authorities revoked the landing permit after indications that Washington did not support the trip. He then tried a commercial route from Panama, where he was also unable to board.
Officials from the Trump administration then leaked anonymous statements to media outlets such as Axios, describing Machado's insistence as "grotesque political opportunism." The State Department had to publicly clarify before Congress on July 15 that the U.S. would not prevent her return as she is a Venezuelan citizen with the full right to return.
Since then, Machado has maintained a more cautious profile, neither breaking with Trump nor distancing himself from Washington. Republican lawmakers from Florida, according to Alandete, have warned the president that chavismo might be buying time until he leaves the White House.
Officials from the administration, for their part, told reporters in a recent call that "democracy is not just elections," a statement that Machado's team has been disputing in Washington for months with a specific demand: a clear electoral calendar for Venezuela.
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