Americas
Venezuelan opposition team flees to U.S. after ‘precise operation,’ Rubio says
By
Washington Post May 7, 2025
Samantha Schmidt, María Luisa Paúl
Washington Post May 7, 2025
The five opposition members, a team of aides close to opposition leader María Corina Machado, had been living inside the embassy for more than a year, evading arrest warrants against them by the autocratic government of President Nicolás Maduro. (Pietro Naj-Oleari/European Parliament)
A group of Venezuelan opposition members who had sought refuge in the Argentine Embassy in Caracas have arrived in the United States after a “precise operation,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday night.
The five opposition members, a team of aides close to opposition leader María Corina Machado, had been living inside the embassy for more than a year, evading arrest warrants against them by the autocratic government of President Nicolás Maduro.
“The U.S. welcomes the successful rescue of all hostages held by the Maduro regime at the Argentinian Embassy in Caracas,” Rubio said Tuesday in a post on X. “Following a precise operation, all hostages are now safely on U.S. soil.”
He also thanked all “personnel involved in this operation and to our partners who assisted in securing the safe liberation of these Venezuelan heroes.”
Machado described it as an “impeccable operation.” The opposition leader, who has a close relationship with Rubio and the Trump administration, posted on X on Tuesday night expressing “infinite gratitude to all who made it possible.”
It was not immediately clear whether Maduro or his government was involved or aware of the group’s departure from the country.
The embassy has been the subject of intense surveillance by Maduro’s security forces for months.
In a statement, the government of Argentine President Javier Milei described the operation as an “extraction” and thanked Rubio for his role.
Maduro and some of his aides on Tuesday traveled to Russia to attend a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the World War II defeat of Nazi Germany. Maduro’s foreign minister posted on social media announcing their arrival in Russia shortly before news broke of the opposition team’s departure from Venezuela.
While sheltered in the Argentine Embassy, the aides reported facing persistent harassment from Venezuelan security forces. Intelligence agents surrounded the residence, conducted surveillance and intermittently cut off water and electricity in what human rights groups described as an intimidation campaign.
Another opposition figure, former cabinet minister Fernando Martínez Mottola, had also sought refuge in the embassy but chose to leave in December 2024 to present himself before prosecutors. He died in February.
Brazil took custody of the embassy last summer after Maduro expelled Argentina’s diplomats following Venezuela’s presidential election.
Maduro claimed a victory in the July election despite showing no evidence of his win. Voting center receipts collected by the opposition, and verified by The Washington Post and independent election observers, show opposition candidate Edmundo González likely beat Maduro in a landslide.