US President Donald Trump declared Sunday that the US controls Venezuela because “we took it in a war,” days after opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned from 10 months in exile and called for presidential elections next year. In her first press conference since crossing into the country from Colombia, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate thanked Trump for opening the “floodgate to freedom” by capturing Nicolas Maduro in January and insisted Venezuela will be “free forever.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington negotiated safety guarantees for Machado’s return with acting President Delcy Rodriguez’s government as part of US-backed reconciliation talks that have freed hundreds of political prisoners. Rubio warned Caracas against delaying a transition and noted that Venezuela’s economy still operates under US sanctions and licenses, while Rodriguez dismissed Machado’s overland return as a “show that could have been avoided” and warned “radical sectors” not to disrupt stability.