Qatar Source Says U.S. Transition Talks Excluded María Corina Machado

Overview

• - In a CNN interview, María Corina Machado said her return depends on specific security guarantees for her and other exiled leaders, and she named Marco Rubio as her direct U.S. interlocutor.
• - A Qatari source told CNN that U.S.-Venezuela talks mediated in Doha before the January operation did not include Machado in any post-Maduro transition plan.
• - After Nicolás Maduro was captured, the U.S. allowed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to act as interim leader, and she kept contact with Washington through Qatar.
• - Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, remain in federal custody in Brooklyn awaiting trial on drug and weapons charges after pleading not guilty, and U.S. officials recently cleared funding for their legal defense.
• - U.S. engagement has widened as international oil firms explore new deals, the Energy Department confirmed enriched uranium was moved from Venezuela to South Carolina, and a temporary Qatar account for oil revenue set up at U.S. request was later closed.