Venezuela: Trump says he hopes María Corina Machado is 'safe' after her return; Rubio credits U.S.-backed transition talks

Washington, United States — United States President Donald Trump reacted this Sunday to the return of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado to Venezuela and said he hopes she is 'safe', in his first comments after the news broke.

'She's a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel Prize, so what else can I say? I hope she's safe,' Trump told reporters at the White House before traveling to an election rally in Michigan, according to El País. The president also said he had no prior knowledge of the return and added: 'We're doing really well in Venezuela.'

Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, returned this Sunday after nearly ten months outside the country and reappeared publicly at a church in Lara state, in northwestern Venezuela, where supporters welcomed her. Her return comes amid the political transition the country is going through after the arrest of former president Nicolás Maduro in a military operation earlier this year.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not explicitly celebrate the return either, but said on social media platform X that the conditions allowing Machado's safe return are 'the direct result of the reconciliation talks supported by the U.S.', which, he said, have already led to the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the return from exile of hundreds of opposition figures.

Rubio added that Washington expects the freedoms of all sectors of Venezuelan politics to continue to be respected and that all actors support those talks, which he described as the best opportunity Venezuela has had in thirty years to peacefully achieve a free and fair election and lasting democracy.

This article follows up on the one published this morning about Machado's return; the Venezuelan government had not commented publicly on her arrival at the time of Trump's remarks.

Photo: Archivo A Lo Claro

Source: El País