Venezuela opposition leader Machado refuses to participate in U.S.-backed talks

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado announced on July 26, 2026, that she will not participate in U.S.-backed talks scheduled for August with the de facto government of Delcy Rodriguez. In a joint statement with Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate in the disputed 2024 presidential elections, Machado said the opposition would not engage in the 'design, development and operation' of the talks. The initiative, announced in mid-July by Rodriguez's interim government and former opposition lawmakers, aims at 'strengthening democracy.' Washington, which ousted former President Nicolas Maduro in a January military raid, had praised the talks as a step toward political reconciliation. Machado defended Gonzalez Urrutia's claimed victory in the 2024 elections, which Maduro won amid fraud allegations, but said she would not obstruct initiatives producing 'real progress.' Rodriguez has accused the interim government of blocking Machado's return after devastating earthquakes last month killed over 5,000 people.