Trump advises him not to return to Venezuela for now

The American president, according to reports The New York Timesmade this request in a meeting of almost two hours that both held a week ago. The opposition leader said on Thursday from Santiago de Chile, after participating in the investiture of the far-right José Antonio Kast, that His intention is still to return to his countryalthough now he did not offer a specific date.

At the meeting at the White House, a breakfast also attended by the Secretary of State, Marco RubioTrump told Machado that the situation in Venezuela is volatile and that it is best for him to postpone his return for his own safety. It is the same message that other members of the US Government have reiterated.

Trump’s decision to bet on the continuity of Chavismo in Venezuela after the capture of the autocrat Nicolas Madurocon Delcy Rodriguezhis former vice president, now at the head of the Executive, has generated tension in the relationship with Machado and his entourage, according to The New York Times.

While the opposition has stated that elections could be held in Venezuela in less than a year, Washington is negotiating with Caracas a longer calendar, which aims to a vote in the second half of 2027according to sources close to the Venezuelan Government.

Marco Rubio has made it clear to the Chavista regime that there must be a democratically elected leader in Venezuela by the time Trump finishes his second term, in January 2029.

Although Machado has tried to ingratiate himself with Trump and has even given him his Nobel Peace medal, his relationship with the White House has not fully recovered since, months before Maduro’s capture, the opposition leader and her team influenced the fractures of the Chavista Government and ruled out any type of negotiation.

For this reason, last month Trump invited the centrist opponent to his annual State of the Union address. Enrique Marquezand not to Machado, who received invitations from other members of Congress. The leader of Vente Venezuela decided not to attend because the Republican president had not invited her directly.

However, Trump is taking advantage of Machado’s popularity in South Florida to reap political benefits: Last Saturday, for example, the president called the opposition leader and put her on loudspeaker so that other Republican politicians could hear her at a dinner at his golf club in Doral, on the outskirts of Miami.

A game of balance in which the head of the White House does not hide praise for the new leaders of Venezuela: “We have a great situation there, with a wonderful president, a wonderful president-elect, Delcy“he said last week, forgetting that Rodríguez has not been elected at the polls. “And she is doing a great job, and they are all doing a good job.”