MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela's Cabello rejects Machado's offer of talks with the chavista leadership

At his customary press conference, Cabello dismissed rumors of a possible dialogue as “idle talk” and denied that “any meeting anywhere in the world” had taken place

Venezuela's Interior, Justice and Peace Minister and secretary general of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, on Monday ruled out any political negotiation with opposition leader María Corina Machado and with the Democratic Unitary Platform, days after the opposition made an unprecedented offer to sit down for talks with chavismo. “There is nothing on the table with them, and even less with her,” he said.

At his customary press conference, Cabello dismissed rumors of a possible dialogue as “idle talk” and denied that “any meeting anywhere in the world” had taken place. According to the official, the opposition fabricates such accounts “to give themselves hope,” for lack of political options. He also said chavismo “knows how to sit down and talk” and recalled that Venezuela “has lived in a process of permanent dialogue” since Hugo Chávez came to power, though he made clear there was nothing on the table with Machado.

The remarks respond to the “Panama Manifesto,” signed on May 28 in that country by the Unitary Platform, which brings together Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia. In the document, the opposition expressed its willingness to pursue “a serious, firm and responsible political negotiation” with the interim government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, with the accompaniment of the United States, to “restore democracy” through a presidential election. The text, which also demands the release of political prisoners, envisions Machado leading the negotiating team. It marks an unprecedented shift, since the leader —winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize— had never accepted negotiating with the government.

Cabello's rejection casts doubt on whether a genuine accord between the two sides exists. His words also sought to quell rumors that intensify whenever Delcy Rodríguez travels abroad. On this occasion, the leader made an official visit to India, where she reportedly negotiated oil deals, and then stopped over in Istanbul, where she met Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. A journalist claimed that a meeting between Rodríguez and Machado had taken place in that city to discuss a possible electoral solution, an account Cabello flatly denied.

The exchange unfolds in an exceptional political scenario for Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro was captured in January, in a US military operation in Caracas, and since then the country has been governed by Delcy Rodríguez as acting president, while the former leader faces criminal proceedings in Miami. In that context, Washington has promoted the search for a consensual path toward free elections, a process that Cabello's refusal again leaves in limbo.