Pedro Urruchurtu, after being rescued from the Argentine Embassy: 'America will be safe when Venezuela is free'

He spent over 400 days inside the Argentine Embassy in Caracas, trapped by Nicolás Maduro’s regime. On May 6, 2025, after 412 days in asylum, he finally learned he was free. Pedro Urruchurtu was one of five opposition figures—collaborators of María Corina Machado—who left the embassy in an operation coordinated by the United States, Argentina, and Brazil, and were safely transferred to U.S. soil.

In an interview with VOZ, the political scientist and coordinator of International Affairs for the Command with Venezuela shared how the operation unfolded and what happened in the days that followed. Urruchurtu emphasized the resilience he and his companions showed, despite the Venezuelan regime cutting off their electricity, blocking their access to food, and stationing agents around the embassy to keep watch on them.

Urruchurtu is certain: it was a plan by the Chavista dictatorship to eliminate them. “They wanted us dead,” he said. Despite that, they resisted and remain determined to keep fighting for freedom in Venezuela.

Urruchurtu also thanks the Trump administration for leading the rescue efforts for him, Claudia Macero, Magallí Meda, Omar González, and Humberto Villalobos. After speaking with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Urruchurtu is convinced that the Republican administration supports opposition leader María Corina Machado’s strategy for restoring democracy in the nation.

He also took the opportunity to urge the world’s democracies to take a stronger stance on the situation in Venezuela and emphasized that Nicolás Maduro poses a threat to the Western Hemisphere. "America will be safe when Venezuela is free (...) a free region will only be possible when Venezuela conquers its freedom," Urruchurtu said.