US-backed negotiations between Venezuela’s interim government and a faction of the opposition will begin on Saturday (Jul 31), with the country’s most prominent opposition leader absent.
The talks, aimed at remaking the country’s political system ahead of eventual elections, highlight Washington’s unprecedented influence over Venezuelan politics since US President Donald Trump’s administration removed Nicolas Maduro in a January raid and installed acting President Delcy Rodriguez.
They will be led on the government side by Rodriguez’s brother Jorge, the head of the National Assembly and a longtime negotiator at previous talks with the US and the opposition.
The opposition delegation – which the US backs over efforts to overhaul the country’s electoral council and top court to ensure free and fair elections – will be led by Dinorah Figuera.
Three sources familiar with the matter said the US asked Figuera to lead because she is the head of an opposition-dominated national assembly cohort elected in 2015 that is still recognised by the US as the country’s last democratically-elected legislature.
Not participating in the talks, to the chagrin of some Venezuela observers, is Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, the country’s most popular opposition figure.
Machado left Venezuela late last year to receive her Nobel after living mostly in hiding since a contested 2024 presidential election. But she has vowed to return to Venezuela to help with the response to June’s devastating twin earthquakes, frustrating US officials who believe it is not the right time.
Trump has denied media reports that his administration told Machado not to return. Machado has repeatedly been publicly sidelined by Washington since Maduro’s removal, with US officials saying she does not have enough support to lead the country.
Before a mid-June visit by Figuera to Caracas, Machado was not even aware that talks were set to begin, three sources said. Another source said Machado had been informed about the talks but not invited to join the opposition delegation because she is not a member of the 2015 assembly.
“Machado is right to distance herself from this process,” said a person with knowledge of the negotiations. “If the negotiations go well and lead to free elections, she will become Venezuela’s first female president. If the negotiations go badly, she will have proven her point: that negotiations need representatives who have legitimacy and who are accepted and viewed positively by the public.”
The negotiators face the task of producing results quickly enough to build confidence among Venezuelans and to make up for Machado’s absence from the talks, the source said.
Machado said last week that while she would not participate, she would not stand in the way of “real progress” at the talks and would evaluate their success based on whether democratic institutions are restored, political prisoners freed and elections scheduled, among other issues.
Machado and Figuera did not respond to requests for comment.
At the talks, the interim government has said it will push for remaining US sanctions to be lifted. The US has temporarily eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil, gas and gold sectors in the past on the back of agreements between the government and the opposition for fair elections.
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