According to the U.S. official's official schedule, the meeting will be held behind closed doors at 1:00 p.m. local time, following his briefing to the Senate on President Donald Trump's policy toward Venezuela.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will receive Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at the State Department headquarters this Wednesday, two weeks after the leader met with President Donald Trump and presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal.
According to Rubio's official schedule, the meeting will take place behind closed doors at 1:00 p.m. Washington time. The meeting will be held after the U.S. top diplomat briefs the Senate on the Trump administration's policy toward Venezuela, a hearing scheduled for 10:00 a.m. local time.
Machado has been in the U.S. capital since January 15, when she met with Trump at the White House to discuss the situation in Venezuela following the U.S. attack on January 3. That operation resulted in the overthrow and arrest of dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The couple was transferred to New York to be tried on drug trafficking charges issued by the United States, charges they deny.
Trump stated that he maintains a very good relationship with the government of interim president Delcy Rodríguez, who served as Maduro's vice president and assumed power after the capture of the Chavista leader. According to the Republican president, the United States is overseeing Venezuela and has secured oil agreements, in addition to obtaining the release of several political prisoners.
Although the White House initially excluded Machado from the transition process, Trump expressed his desire to also "involve" the opposition leader in the future of Venezuela after meeting with her.
Before meeting with Machado, Rubio will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the first time to detail the Trump administration's plan for Venezuela after Maduro's capture.
According to Bloomberg and AFP, the Secretary of State's speech will include warnings about Washington's next steps. In that message, Rubio will warn that Trump does not rule out the use of force if the interim government led by Rodríguez does not cooperate with the United States.
“We will closely monitor the performance of the interim authorities as they cooperate with our phased plan to restore stability in Venezuela. Let there be no doubt: as the president has stated, we are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,” the official said in the speech released by Bloomberg and AFP.
According to Rubio, Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro's vice president who assumed power after the fall of the Chavista leader, expressed her intention to cooperate with the United States. The Secretary of State will indicate that the leader pledged to open Venezuela's energy sector to U.S. companies and to end crude oil shipments to Cuba.
“Rodríguez is fully aware of Maduro's fate; we believe that her own personal interest aligns with the advancement of our objectives,” Rubio will say, according to the text published by the aforementioned media outlets.
(With information from EFE)
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