Opposition leader’s return attempt halted after Curaçao landing rights withdrawn
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s flight to return to her country was aborted about an hour into its journey on June 26 after U.S. officials intervened, according to people familiar with the matter, as a clash emerged between Machado and the Trump administration over the timing of her return.
Machado had chartered a Hawker 800 private jet to fly from Virginia to the Caribbean island of Curaçao on June 26, where she planned to board a boat to return to Venezuela for the first time since she fled in December, the people said. The trip was a response to twin earthquakes that killed 2,295 people and left 50,000 missing along Venezuela’s coast.
About an hour into the flight, the charter company’s dispatcher ordered the pilots to turn the aircraft around over North Carolina and return to the Washington area, one of the people said. Machado and her aides were stunned, believing senior Trump officials had given sufficient assurances for the journey, the people said.
U.S. officials came to believe that Machado planned to return to Venezuela by boat from Curaçao, retracing the risky route she used to escape the country on Dec. 9 to receive her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, a person familiar with the matter said. The same private contractors who extracted her then were already staged on the island.
Dutch authorities, who handle Curaçao’s foreign affairs, initially believed the U.S. backed the trip but withdrew permission for the plane to land after Washington made clear it was not supportive, the people familiar said. Netherlands officials didn’t comment.
The aborted flight came after days of disagreement between Machado’s allies and Trump administration officials over the timing of her return. The flight had cost a Venezuelan supporter $35,000.
In a blunt message delivered through intermediaries close to the White House on June 26, Machado was warned that pressing ahead could risk losing Trump’s support and derailing his Venezuela strategy, some of the people said. A State Department spokesperson said that injecting contentious political issues would be counterproductive to earthquake response efforts.
Trump raised Machado’s possible return in a phone call with Rodríguez on June 26, telling her not to move against or interfere with Machado if she came back, according to people familiar with the conversation. If authorities arrested Machado or endangered her safety, it would set off a crisis for Trump’s Venezuela policy in Washington, where the opposition leader has strong support in both parties, the people said.
The day after her plane was turned around, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Machado that while the U.S. wouldn’t keep her from leaving, it wasn’t the right time to return amid earthquake relief efforts, a Trump administration official said.
Machado then tried to return through Panama on June 28, but Copa Airlines declined to carry her, people familiar with the incident said, citing concerns that Venezuelan authorities could retaliate against one of the few commercial airlines still flying into the country. A representative for Copa declined to comment.
From Panama City, Machado said in a video posted on social media on June 29 that the earthquake catastrophe made it “impossible to postpone” her return. She blamed the Venezuelan government for blocking her and threatening those helping her but did not mention the U.S. role.
The White House has thrown its support behind Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president, whom Trump has praised for carrying out Washington’s wishes by working to stabilize the country and courting foreign investors. For months, U.S. officials including Rubio have urged Machado to be patient, saying an early return would risk her safety.
Elliott Abrams, a former U.S. diplomat who was Trump’s envoy for Venezuela and maintains communications with Venezuela’s opposition leadership, said Machado must be with her people. “Like any political leader, she has to be down there with her people and her voters,” Abrams said. “That is generally true, but it’s even more true when there’s a national tragedy like this. She has to go back.”
Supporters of Machado, including many Florida Republicans, have watched with dismay as the U.S. arrangement with Rodríguez looks increasingly open-ended, with little movement toward a democratic transition, according to people familiar with the matter. Machado and her allies have argued that her nationwide network of as many as 60,000 volunteers could help distribute water, food and supplies in the earthquake recovery.
Roger Noriega, a former top U.S. diplomat to Latin America, described the situation succinctly. “She has to be able to do what she does,” Noriega said. “She cannot do that outside of Venezuela.”