U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at the State Department headquarters on Wednesday. The meeting will take place two weeks after she met with President Donald Trump and gifted him her Nobel Peace Medal. According to Rubio's official schedule, the closed-door meeting will be held at 13:00 local time in Washington (18:00 GMT), following the U.S. top diplomat's briefing to the Senate on the Trump administration's policy toward Venezuela. The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 local time (15:00 GMT). Machado has been in the U.S. capital since January 15, when she met with Trump at the White House to discuss the situation in Venezuela following the U.S. attack on January 3, which resulted in the overthrow and arrest of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Trump claims to have a very good relationship with the government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro's vice president who took power after the arrest of the Chavista leader. According to the Republican, the U.S. is overseeing Venezuela, has reached oil agreements, and secured the release of several political prisoners. Although the White House initially sidelined Machado from the transition process, Trump expressed his desire to also 'involve' the opposition leader in Venezuela's future after meeting with her. Before meeting with Machado, Marco Rubio will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the first time to detail the Trump administration's plan for Venezuela following Maduro's capture. In his speech, published on Tuesday, Rubio will warn that Trump does not rule out the use of force if Delcy Rodríguez does not cooperate with Washington. 'We will closely monitor the performance of the interim authorities as they cooperate with our phased plan to restore stability in Venezuela. Let there be no doubt: as the president has stated, we are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,' he will express. According to Rubio, Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro's vice president who took power after the Chavista leader's fall, has expressed her intention to cooperate with the U.S., committed to opening Venezuela's energy sector to U.S. companies and ending crude oil shipments to Cuba. 'Rodríguez is fully aware of Maduro's fate; we believe her personal interests align with the advancement of our objectives,' he will express.
