Venezuela opposition leader Machado vows imminent return after deadly quake; Trump administration balks

By Seo Ji-yeon, The Herald Business

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, 58, said she would return home "soon" amid a mounting death toll from the magnitude-7.5 twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24.

In an interview Sunday on Fox News' morning talk show "Fox & Friends," Machado said of the timing of her return: "The moment has come." She added, "It is my duty to be with my people. We need to be together, to embrace each other, to grieve and mourn together," and said she would arrive in Venezuela "very soon."

Venezuelan National Assembly Speaker Jorge Rodriguez said the death toll from the earthquakes had reached 1,450 as of Sunday, according to reports from AP, AFP and Reuters. The confirmed death count rose by 20 from the previous day. Rodriguez said 3,150 people had been injured, 12,721 displaced and 774 buildings had collapsed.

The casualty figures are expected to rise sharply, however. The UN estimates that around 50,000 people remain missing as a result of the earthquakes.

In a video message released after the earthquakes, Machado also said, "Very, very soon, we will embrace each other in Venezuela."

Machado, last year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has remained outside Venezuela since leaving the country in December to attend the award ceremony in Oslo.

According to US media reports, Machado last week sought Washington's assistance with a plan to return home via Curaçao under the protection of private security personnel.

The Trump administration was reluctant to cooperate, however, and told Machado that if she attempted to return, she would have to do so entirely at her own risk, without US support, reports said.

US media outlets said officials within the Trump administration have expressed concern that Machado's return at this juncture could provoke a confrontation with the interim government led by Delcy Rodriguez and risk turning rescue operations into a political dispute.

Observers have also noted that whether to allow Machado to return could pose a significant test for the Rodriguez government.

Machado drew controversy in January when she met Donald Trump at the White House and presented him with her Nobel Prize medal as a gesture of gratitude for the US military's arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The unprecedented act of a laureate handing her medal to a foreign head of state prompted the Norwegian Nobel Committee to step in, stating that "the honor of the Nobel Prize cannot be shared or transferred."

At a press conference in Madrid in April, however, Machado defended the gesture, calling the US operation to bring Maduro to justice "something the Venezuelan people will never forget" and saying she had "absolutely no regrets" about giving her Nobel medal to Trump.