Rubio on Venezuela Transition: Machado Back Home, Oil Sold at Market Rates Into Treasury-Controlled Account
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on an October 26 teleconference on Venezuela's transition that opposition leader María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on October 25 without incident; that Venezuelan oil is now sold at market rates into a Treasury-controlled account; and that the transition path runs through rebuilding the Supreme Justice Tribunal (TSJ) and the National Electoral Council (CNE) before a presidential vacancy is declared and new elections are held within six months.
On Machado's return, Rubio said the United States neither urged nor facilitated it, beyond telling the interim authorities weeks ago that she should be allowed to return unperturbed. The only time Washington discouraged her was right after the earthquake, to prioritize aid flights. She entered the country on October 25 with no issues.
On oil, Rubio said he did not have a figure available, but confirmed that since January 3 Venezuelan oil has been sold at market rates — some refined in the southern United States, some in India — after previously being sold at deep discounts, with China crediting oil against debt. The new deal covers fields formerly held by Chinese and Russian companies and must comply with U.S. anti-money-laundering and anti-corruption law; Chevron is expanding, and Exxon and Reliance have expressed interest. No U.S. money is involved, but the arrangement gives the United States strategic access to the reserve, with royalties going to the Venezuelan government.
In a background briefing the same day, a senior State Department official detailed the institutional rebuild: for the TSJ, the opposition and the ruling party each appointed members to a judicial nominating committee composed almost entirely of law professors and other reputable non-political figures, which will nominate 32 new magistrates, with a new court in place by the end of this calendar year. The CNE will be reformed in parallel into a purely technical, nonpolitical body responsible for machines, polling places, counting and reporting, stripped of the power to remove candidates. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez must then declare a permanent vacancy in the presidency, triggering a six-month period for new elections under the constitution, with the date set by the new CNE.
Rubio said the interim authorities should be judged by actions, not rhetoric, pointing to diminished Iranian and Cuban influence, action against criminal organizations, the extradition of Alex Saab — who has pled guilty and is a cooperating witness — and agreement to a new TSJ and transition steps. He added that there has been “no talk about prosecutions” of interim officials.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国国务卿鲁比奥官方肖像。图片：美国国务院，公共领域。
