Rubio responds to Machado return: Can’t ‘street-protest your way into a democracy’
Rubio's phrasing is telling. He wants to acknowledge Machado's courage without endorsing a tactic that has repeatedly failed to dislodge Nicolás Maduro. The recalled 2017 protests and the 2019 standoff both fizzled out, and most analysts now agree that street pressure alone won't move a regime that controls the military and the state apparatus. What Rubio seems to be signaling, between the lines, is that Washington expects a negotiated, institutional path, even if that path is painfully slow.
That implicit advice is easy to give from a State Department podium. Machado is the one taking the personal risk, facing arrest or worse the moment she touches down. My guess is she knows the limitations of protests better than anyone, but her return is about holding hope for millions of Venezuelans who feel abandoned by both the regime and the international community. Rubio's warning sounds practical, but it also risks sounding dismissive of the very real legitimacy that mass mobilization carries in a country where elections are rigged.
What I'd want to know next is what concrete steps the U.S. is willing to take beyond rhetoric, whether it's pushing for a negotiated exit, easing sanctions selectively, or backing a credible electoral plan. Street protests can't do it alone, but neither can quiet diplomacy if the regime has no incentive to change.