Exiled Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado accused the ruling government of blocking her from flying home from Panamá to help with earthquake relief but said she would find a way to return, setting up a showdown with the U.S.-backed administration.
“The regime closed our country’s airspace to try to stop me,” Machado said Monday in a video posted on social media from Panama. The twin earthquakes that rocked Venezuela on Wednesday have killed more than 1,500 people and left tens of thousands missing, making her return “impossible to postpone,” she said.
On Friday, Machado took off in a private plane from Virginia to Curaçao, an autonomous Dutch island 40 miles from Venezuela, on a flight authorized by U.S. authorities, people familiar with the trip said. She and aides had made it as far as North Carolina when U.S. officials asked her to turn around, and she did.
Then on Sunday, she flew commercially to Panama City, where she was stopped from boarding a flight to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. Representatives for Copa Airlines told her they feared that allowing her to return would lead the Venezuelan regime to end the carrier’s flights to the country, people familiar with the trip said. Copa couldn’t be reached for comment.
Machado’s return would test a new arrangement between Washington and Caracas in which the Trump administration has given priority to stability, access to Venezuelan oil, and security cooperation over a democratic transition. Despite acknowledging that Venezuela eventually will need to hold elections to legitimize its government, neither the U.S. or Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, have set a timetable for a vote.
Calls and emails to Rodríguez’s government weren’t returned.
“Venezuela remains a sovereign country with interim authorities and they’re the ultimate authority over their territory,” State Department spokeswoman Natalia Molano said earlier on Monday.
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize last year for advocating democracy, Machado has largely spent her time in Washington and Europe lobbying government officials and lawmakers to support a democratic transition for her country since escaping Venezuela by boat in December. Trump officials—who have backed Rodríguez since the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuela strongman Nicolás Maduro—previously discouraged Machado from returning to Venezuela.
Senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urged Machado for patience to preserve the fragile working relationship with Rodríguez they say is necessary to stabilize the country and help put it on the road to economic recovery.
The White House referred requests for comment to the State Department.
“The Trump Administration is solely focused on continuing to advance our efforts in response to the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela,” a State Department spokesperson said in response to questions about U.S. support for Machado’s attempts to return to Venezuela.
A spokesman for Venezuela’s Information Ministry didn’t immediately respond to emails and text messages seeking comment.
Some Trump officials privately expressed frustration in recent months with Machado’s speeches and television appearances in which she sometimes criticized Rodríguez and urged for a speedy democratic transition, saying she wasn’t doing herself any favor in President Trump’s eyes.
Trump has praised Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president, for her “fantastic” cooperation. “The people running it, they are our people,” he said about Venezuela last week. Since January, Venezuelan authorities have aligned themselves with U.S. priorities, opening up the country’s vast oil reserves to foreign investors and and cooperating with Washington on migration and security operations.
On Monday in her video post, Machado said, “At this hour, I am willing to do whatever must be done, to speak with whoever must be spoken to.”
Machado accused the government of blocking humanitarian aid efforts and suppressing information after the natural disaster. “I am ready and close to Venezuela,” “And I will do whatever it takes for us to meet there.”
The Venezuelan government has made it as difficult as possible for Machado to return. The government hasn’t issued her a passport. A trade group representing private pilots issued a communiqué saying government red tape was preventing flights into Venezuela, which is making it both harder to bring in humanitarian aid as well as people who want to come into the country.
“I want to get back to Venezuela in these agonizing hours,” Machado said in the video she published.
Write to Vera Bergengruen at vera.bergengruen@wsj.com and Juan Forero at juan.forero@wsj.com
