Venezuela's Machado plans quick return amid quake response

Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado is planning to return to the country as soon as possible, according to people with direct knowledge of her plans, a move that could reshape the political landscape as acting President Delcy Rodríguez struggles to respond to the nation's worst natural disaster in decades.

Several U.S. officials have told Machado they're worried her return could cause a confrontation with the current regime and distract from rescue efforts, the people said. But views are split, and she has received some encouragement from within the Trump administration, they said. It's unclear whether the concerns among some Trump aides will delay her plans.

While U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials in Washington have supported Machado eventually returning, for months they've asked her to be patient, warning that going back too soon could stoke polarization and instability. That could be heightened by the stress from this week's earthquake that has killed more than a thousand people.

A Machado homecoming would force Rodríguez to choose between embracing her chief political rival in a show of national unity or risking accusations that her government is closing political space during a national emergency. How Rodríguez handles the crisis is already shaping perceptions of her administration after Nicolás Maduro's ouster by the U.S. in early January.

Machado's team, Venezuela's Information Ministry, the White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Machado's return would also test Rodríguez, whose disapproval rating climbed to 59% in May, up almost 12 percentage points from April, according to an AtlasIntel survey conducted for Bloomberg News.

Rodríguez was confronted by angry residents during a visit to an affected Caracas neighborhood on Friday evening, with people accusing authorities of doing nothing for them and shouting "Get out!" Machado, still Venezuela's most popular political leader, could channel public frustration over the government's response.

Yet some observers see the crisis as an opportunity for Rodríguez as well. Allowing Machado to return and participate in relief efforts would represent the clearest sign yet of political opening under the U.S.-backed transition and project an image of national unity after Maduro's ouster.

On the other hand, the late Hugo Chavez, Maduro's mentor and the architect of the modern socialist movement in Venezuela, used the crisis of floods that killed thousands in 1999, and his government's response, to deepen the role of the armed forces and the centralization of power.

The death toll from the current tragedy has climbed to more than 1,400 after two earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 struck within a minute of each other on Wednesday. The temblors injured more than 3,000 people and have triggered more than 430 aftershocks by Saturday, according to authorities.

The disaster has already prompted Rodríguez to pursue an unusually pragmatic foreign policy. Her administration has welcomed aid from the U.S. as well as from governments once viewed as political adversaries, including El Salvador, Chile, Ecuador, Israel, Paraguay and Italy.

That openness, however, has not extended inside Venezuela. Opposition leaders accused authorities on Friday of blocking relief efforts by stopping an aid truck in Caracas and harassing volunteers at a collection center in the city of Cumaná in northeastern Venezuela.

The government has also sought to centralize humanitarian assistance, urging citizens to channel donations and volunteer registrations through official collection centers and state-run platforms while promoting VenApp as the main channel for reporting missing people and coordinating relief.

Meanwhile, the opposition has built a parallel humanitarian network and missing-person registry showing more than 55,000 people remain unaccounted for.

Authorities have also restricted access to the hardest-hit state of La Guaira, with Rodríguez saying the measure is necessary to protect rescue operations and implement sanitary controls.

Machado has remained abroad since emerging from hiding and leaving Venezuela late last year to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. She has vowed to return ever since, particularly after Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in January.

In a video message after the earthquakes, Machado told supporters that "very, very soon, we will embrace one another in Venezuela."

How Rodríguez handles the disaster - and whether she allows her chief political rival to return during it - could become a defining test of her young administration.

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