Secret operation extracts political asylum seekers from Argentine Embassy as tensions with Maduro regime escalate.
The United States has confirmed the successful rescue and transfer of five Venezuelan opposition figures who had been taking asylum in the Argentine Embassy in Caracas for more than a year. The operation, described by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “precise,” resulted in all five individuals arriving safely on U.S. soil this week.
“These hostages, held by the Maduro regime at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas, are now safe in the United States,” Rubio wrote on his X account late Tuesday night. He praised the efforts of all personnel and international partners involved in the rescue, calling the asylees “Venezuelan heroes.”
The opposition leaders sought refuge in the embassy in March 2024 after being charged by the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office with conspiracy, treason, and other crimes widely condemned as politically motivated. Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized President Nicolás Maduro’s regime for using the judicial system to suppress dissent and crush political opposition.
Although Rubio did not detail the nature of the extraction, he emphasized that the mission was carried out with precision. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party Vente Venezuela includes several of the rescued individuals, called the operation “impeccable and epic,” and expressed hope that it would be a step toward freeing the nearly 900 political prisoners still detained in Venezuela.
A U.S. spokeswoman for Vente Venezuela confirmed that several of the party’s high-profile members were among those rescued:
- Pedro Urruchurtu, international coordinator
- Claudia Macero, party spokeswoman
- Omar González, former National Assembly member
- Humberto Villalobos, election strategist
- Magalli Meda, senior aide to Machado
Macero is believed to have left the embassy separately from the others. A sixth asylee, Fernando Martínez Mottola, departed the embassy in December 2024 due to illness and passed away shortly after.
The Argentine Embassy in Caracas had been under Brazilian protection since August 2024, following the expulsion of Argentine diplomats by the Maduro regime. However, that protection was later revoked by Venezuela in September, after the government accused the asylees of planning terrorist acts from within the diplomatic compound.
The opposition coalition, Plataforma Unitaria Democrática (PUD), had recently called for international pressure to stop what it termed the “criminal siege” of the embassy and demanded the issuance of safe-conduct passes for the asylees—an effort that had seen no cooperation from the Venezuelan government until the U.S.-led operation.
The successful extraction of these political figures is seen as both a diplomatic and humanitarian milestone. It underscores the growing international consensus against the Maduro regime’s authoritarian tactics and the Biden administration’s—or potentially Rubio’s—ongoing focus on human rights in the region.
As of Tuesday night, the Maduro regime had not issued a response to the rescue. Meanwhile, the rescued opposition members are expected to speak publicly in the coming days as they settle into temporary protection in the United States.
