Beirut: Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado announced Sunday that she will not participate in upcoming talks with the interim government of Delcy Rodriguez. The negotiations, scheduled for Aug. 1 and backed by Washington, aim to establish a framework for a political reconciliation.
According to Anadolu Agency, in a joint statement co-signed with former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, Machado distanced her coalition from the initiative, saying they were excluded from its design and structure. "Members of the 2015 National Assembly and representatives of the regime have announced the creation of a mechanism between the two sides in which we did not participate in its design, development, or operation," the statement read. "It is not our place to explain its scope or decisions. Those behind it must inform the country of its objectives, methodology, and timeline."
In mid-July, Rodriguez's interim administration and a faction of former lawmakers from the 2015-2020 National Assembly, led by Dinorah Figuera, agreed on a roadmap to "strengthen democracy". Figuera is a prominent Venezuelan opposition leader who lived in exile in Spain since 2018 and returned to Caracas under a US-coordinated operation.
The US government welcomed the dialogue as a crucial step toward political stabilization following the capture of former President Nicolas Maduro in January. While declaring she will not block genuine efforts toward a democratic transition, Machado emphasized that any credible negotiation must ensure full restoration of democratic institutions, the immediate release of all political prisoners, equal electoral guarantees for all political actors and a binding timeline for presidential elections that respects the popular sovereignty demonstrated in the 2024 vote.
Key agenda items of the talks include appointing a new National Electoral Council, electing judges, and setting conditions for future elections. Machado, who has been in exile since December after leaving the country to accept her Nobel Prize in Oslo, reaffirmed her commitment alongside Gonzalez to return to Venezuela and advance the "Grand National Agreement for the Reconstruction of the Republic."