Marco Rubio says Venezuela’s democratic transition will begin in early August

The United States is accelerating the transition process in Venezuela. Washington has exercised special control over the Caribbean country since January 3, when it launched a military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and install Delcy Rodríguez as acting president. Throughout these months, supporters of opposition leader María Corina Machado, who is living in exile abroad, have called for her return so that she can assume power, arguing that she won the 2024 election.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been tasked with managing relations between the two countries and leading talks with the Venezuelan government. On Monday, he announced that the process of democratic transition in Venezuela will begin in early August.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before departing for the Philippines for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, Rubio said: “A group representing the 2015 national assembly, the last democratically elected national assembly, the group that we recognized as the legitimate government of Venezuela, had a meeting with the interim government, and they have agreed to set up a format and a forum not just for reconciliation talks but to begin the transition process, which is what the people of Venezuela need.”

Venezuelan opposition leader Dinorah Figuera is regarded as the head of the last democratically elected National Assembly recognized by the United States. Rubio, who is overseeing Washington’s policy towards Caracas, added: “I think their first official talks will begin the first week of August. I thought that was a very powerful offer. And obviously, we’ll see where it goes, but we think that that agreement was broadly met in Venezuela as very good news, and obviously something we’re going to be very engaged in.”

Figuera, an opposition lawmaker in exile and president of the National Assembly elected in 2015, returned to Caracas a month ago after spending eight years abroad. Washington supported her return in an effort to promote the renewal of the National Electoral Council (CNE).

The strategy devised by Rubio, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump and endorsed by Rodríguez, seeks to weaken support for María Corina Machado.

The National Assembly is headed by Jorge Rodríguez, Delcy Rodríguez’s brother. The parliamentary speaker announced that he has opened a “political dialogue” and established a “joint technical and political committee” with representatives of opposition lawmakers from the 2015-2020 Assembly, which Chavismo — the ruling socialist movement founded by the late Hugo Chávez — ignored and undermined for years.

In a statement issued a month ago following the meeting between Rodríguez and Figuera, the Assembly said the process includes specific milestones and timetables aimed at the “strengthening of democracy, the consolidation of peace and the pursuit of a future of well-being and prosperity.” Figuera also met with U.S. chargé d’affaires John Barrett.

Figuera was one of the lawmakers elected in December 2015, when the opposition secured its first electoral victory over Chavismo, winning a supermajority in Parliament. She is one of the few active political figures still associated with Juan Guaidó’s interim government, which in 2019 established a parallel governing structure based on the authority of that National Assembly.

The United States had already signalled its intentions last week as tensions between supporters of Delcy Rodríguez and María Corina Machado began to intensify. To prevent the rift from deepening, Washington is seeking to accelerate the transition process.

“The United States welcomes Tuesday’s announcements by Venezuela’s 2015 National Assembly, led by Dinorah Figuera, and the Venezuelan interim government of a joint agenda to begin August 1 to advance Venezuela’s stability, democracy, and national recovery,” the U.S. embassy in Caracas said last week in a statement noting that the move has the backing of the interim government led by Rodríguez.

The negotiations to launch a transition process are taking place as Venezuela continues reconstruction and stabilization efforts following the devastating earthquakes that struck the country in late June. Two powerful tremors hit northern Venezuela, leaving more than 5,200 people dead, tens of thousands injured and vast areas of La Guaira and Caracas in ruins. Hundreds of buildings collapsed, while hospitals, schools and other public facilities were destroyed, leaving behind a landscape of rubble.

Earthquake aid

The disaster has underscored the need for a unity government capable of managing reconstruction resources and overseeing the country’s economic recovery effectively. Rubio said the United States has already provided $180 million of the $300 million it pledged in assistance to Venezuela.

“It’s already upwards of $180 million, and we’ll do more,” said Rubio. “The Venezuelans will do more. I think we’re trying to help them get access to global funding and credit as well for their rebuilding. They’re still working through an estimate on the total cost, and it’ll be substantial — both removal of the debris and building new things."

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition