SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Now that Venezuela's most popular opposition leader is back in the country, pressure is growing for the U.S.-backed authoritarian regime in Caracas to hold elections. John Otis has more.
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MARÍA CORINA MACHADO: (Speaking Spanish).
JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: María Corina Machado speaking in Caracas to relatives of political prisoners.
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MACHADO: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: The opposition leader told her audience, we are going to build a country where a mother will never again have to cry over a son who has been disappeared or tortured. Machado's chances of building a new Venezuela took a step forward with her return from exile on Sunday. As news of her arrival spread, she was mobbed by ecstatic crowds as she drove towards Caracas.
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OTIS: Her arrival coincides with a new push by Secretary of State Marco Rubio for Venezuela to hold a free and fair presidential vote.
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MARCO RUBIO: A new election and a new, you know, system of government. That's what we want.
OTIS: Rubio, who spoke with reporters Monday, wants a nonpartisan Supreme Court and electoral council to be sworn in within the next few months. In contrast to Venezuela's 2024 election, when these institutions banned Machado from running and helped former dictator Nicolás Maduro rig the results, Rubio said these changes would help guarantee a fair election.
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RUBIO: You've got to change the infrastructure of the elections. It needs to happen quickly under the timelines that we've established.
OTIS: Once that's done, the U.S. envisions Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez stepping aside, with voting for a new president to be held within six months. This sudden push for elections is a huge change by the Trump administration, says Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela expert at the Atlantic Council.
GEOFF RAMSEY: It's really notable. I mean, for the first time, the Trump administration is now explicitly saying that there needs to be a presidential election before the Trump administration leaves office.
OTIS: By contrast, when American troops ousted Maduro in January, Trump ignored opposition leader Machado. Instead, Delcy Rodriguez, a Maduro apparatchik, was installed as interim president. And rather than democracy, U.S. officials focused on cutting business deals for Venezuela's vast oil and gold reserves. Trump has praised Rodriguez for cooperating with Washington, but she is despised by most Venezuelans for her key roles in Maduro's dictatorship. As a result, Ramsey says, pressure for change is building.
RAMSEY: This can't just be a story of oil deals and investments. At the end of the day, there needs to be a political opening for this to be considered a success and in order for the U.S. to advance its own interest.
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OTIS: Machado has been assaulted, detained and forced into hiding for confronting the regime. The warmth of her welcome from supporters as she arrived on Sunday is a reminder of her electoral support, says Caracas-based political analyst Margarita Lopez Maya, who believes Machado would easily win a fair election.
MARGARITA LOPEZ MAYA: Nobody has the political trajectory that she has. I mean, she has been a very brave woman.
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PRESIDENT DELCY RODRIGUEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: In a speech today, interim President Rodriguez pledged to scale back state repression and hold free elections. She refused to say when, but Rubio said the threat of U.S. sanctions could help prevent any backsliding.
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RUBIO: If anybody tries to derail that process, then we're going to have a problem. But I don't expect that. I really, really don't.
OTIS: For NPR News, I'm John Otis.
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