By Simon Lewis and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Venezuela's electoral infrastructure was designed to rig elections and so must be quickly replaced before a valid election can be held.
Rubio spoke to reporters by phone a day after opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned to Venezuela for the first time since the US captured the country's then-President Nicolas Maduro in January and took him to New York for trial.
The US believes
that talks currently underway between the interim government in Caracas and opposition politicians are expected to see a new supreme judicial tribunal in place by the end of this year and a new electoral council shortly thereafter, a senior US State Department official said earlier.
"I think we're making real progress in that regard," said Rubio, who has acted as US President Donald Trump's point person on Venezuela. "But if anybody tries to derail that process, they're doing a great harm to Venezuela."
Maduro's government had set up the country's electoral infrastructure to rig elections so must be quickly changed, Rubio added.
But Rubio stopped short of giving a target date for elections. Machado has said elections should be held by mid-2027, though Trump has previously said he did not believe Venezuela was ready for a nationwide vote.
Machado's return to Venezuela after several failed attempts risks straining her ties with Trump's administration.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, who was prevented from challenging Maduro for the presidency in 2024, had been out of the country for 10 months and spent the previous year in hiding following the disputed election.
Washington has said Machado has every right to be in Venezuela, but has praised acting President Delcy Rodriguez and supports a negotiation process between the Rodriguez government and opposition groups that do not include Machado's Vente Venezuela movement.
Rubio said the only time he had "discouraged" Machado from going back to Venezuela was in the immediate aftermath of devastating earthquakes in the summer, because the country was grappling with a humanitarian crisis.
But Rubio said that weeks ago the US told Venezuela's interim authorities that Machado "belongs in her country" and "should be allowed to return unperturbed," and the government had agreed.
Asked about Machado's criticism of an oil deal that Trump had struck with the interim rulers, Rubio insisted that the agreement was a good one for both countries but that she had a right to express her opinion on the matter.
Trump has repeatedly expressed support for Rodriguez, a former deputy to Maduro, and hailed deals on oil production and other business ventures by US companies in the South American country.
But some critics have accused Trump of a neo-colonialist approach to Venezuela aimed at exploiting its natural resources.
A faction of the opposition and the interim government held a round of talks this month, with the aim of remaking the top court and electoral council, among other goals, ahead of eventual elections. The talks have not included Machado's political movement.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Simon Lewis and Christian Martinez; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Daniel Wallis)
