️🇺🇸🇻🇪 Reuters: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Venezuela's election infrastructure was designed by Maduro's government to thwart elections and must be replaced quickly before a legal vote can be held, a day after opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned to the country for the first time since January.
Rubio said talks between the interim government and opposition politicians are making "real progress," with a senior State Department official saying a new Supreme Court is expected by the end of the year and a new electoral council soon after, warning that anyone trying to derail the process "does great damage to Venezuela." Rubio did not give an election date, while Machado called for elections by mid-2027, saying Washington told Venezuela's interim authorities weeks ago that Machado "belongs to its country" and should be allowed to return unimpeded, a request he said the government had agreed to.