Venezuela denies that opposition members left country under intl rescue operation

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s government on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that members of the country’s opposition left the Argentine diplomatic compound where they had sheltered for over a year, but it denied that their arrival to the United States occurred under an international rescue operation as characterized by the political faction and the U.S. State Department.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the group’s movements were negotiated with the government and further alleged that one of the six people who entered the Argentine ambassador’s residence in March left the compound in August, contradicting earlier statements from the opposition.

Cabello’s statements came roughly 24 hours after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on social media that the opposition members were on U.S. soil after a “successful rescue.”

The government of Argentine President Javier Milei allowed the six people into the ambassador’s residence when authorities loyal to Venezuela’s ruling party issued warrants for their arrest, accusing them of promoting acts of violence to destabilize the country. The group included the campaign manager and communications director of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as well as Fernando Martinez, a cabinet minister in the 1990s.

Martinez abandoned the compound in mid-December and, according to Venezuelan authorities, appeared before prosecutors. He died in February.

After Rubio’s announcement Tuesday, Machado thanked people involved in what she called an “impeccable and epic operation for the Freedom of five heroes of Venezuela.” But Cabello alleged that only four people remained at the embassy after Martinez’s departure.

Since late November, the group had denounced the constant presence of intelligence service agents and police outside the residence. It had also accused the government of President Nicolás Maduro of cutting electricity and water services to the compound. The government denied the allegations.

“They put on their show, and in the end, they ended up negotiating,” Cabello said Wednesday during his weekly show on state television.

Cabello did not offer details of the group’s movements to reach the U.S. But he alleged that Machado negotiated with the government to allow her mother to leave the country, which he said she did so Monday via a commercial airplane headed to Colombia’s capital, Bogota.

Machado, who was last seen in public in January, did not immediately respond to Cabello’s allegations.

Maduro’s government routinely targeted its real or perceived opponents ahead of last year’s presidential election, and its crackdown on dissent only increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.

The election results announced by the Electoral Council sparked protests across the country to which the government responded with force and ended with more than 20 people dead. They also prompted an end to diplomatic relations between Venezuela and various foreign countries, including Argentina.

As Cabello’s TV show aired, Machado’s campaign manager, Magalli Meda, said on X that her home was being raided and shared timestamped photos showing men dressed in black, some with their faces covered and wearing bullet-proof vests, in a living room.

“We denounce that at this moment, while Cabello lies about supposed negotiations for our departure, his repressive arm is violating our home in Caracas,” she said. “These images were obtained remotely just moments ago.”

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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.