"It was an extraction": Trump Administration denies having negotiated with the Chavista regime for the release of asylum-seekers

The Administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday denied the Venezuelan dictatorship's Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, after he assured that the release of the collaborators of opposition leader María Corina Machado from the Argentine embassy in Caracas -where they were in asylum- was the result of a negotiation between the parties. "First of all, I must reject that premise completely. I am not going to comment on any of those statements, which are just that. What I do know is that these people are now out of danger as we continue to work to rescue more people," commented U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, after being asked about Cabello's words.

On the other hand, when asked about different reports that the liberation was part of an operation in which agents of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) took advantage of a security breach to get the hostages out, Bruce decided not to respond, detailing that "That sounds like a movie to me, of course I will not comment on gossip or speculation". Finally, Bruce explained that, once all the details that may be revealed about the extraction operation of the Venezuelan opposition leaders are available, they will be made known through the corresponding spokespersons.

Extraction and pressure

Another figure of the Trump Administration that publicly denied any negotiation with the Venezuelan dictatorship was the spokesperson for the Americas of the State Department, Natalia Molano, who highlighted during an interview with the VPITV channel that what happened was nothing more than an operation of extraction, and added that the U.S. governmentwill not stop pressuring the socialist tyranny of Nicolás Maduro. "It was not any kind of negotiation, it was an extraction, a very precise operation. Just like it wasn't a negotiation about the six American citizens...we work with the parties that do have a presence inside Venezuela. We are putting as much pressure as possible, limiting any flow of income from Maduro's dictatorship (...) we will continue cutting off any type of resource to put more pressure on him and support the Venezuelan people", Molano explained.

The released opponents were Magalli Meda, Omar González, Claudia Macero, Pedro Urruchurtu and Humberto Villalobos. All are part of Vente Venezuela, which is Machado's party and the most important party in the Venezuelan opposition today. These five opposition leaders decided to take refuge in the embassy after the Chavista dictatorship issued arrest warrants against them, after accusing them without any evidence of participating in conspiratorial plans.