The interim president of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez called on the oppositionists who chose "extremism to stay in Washington", an obvious reference to the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, reported Agence France-Presse.
"Whoever truly loves Venezuela, let him return, and those who want evil and aggression against the Venezuelan people to continue forever, let him stay in Washington!", she said at an official ceremony in Caracas and condemned "extremism".
Machado supported the American intervention that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by the US military on January 3 in Caracas.
The Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate said she had expressed her desire to return to Venezuela during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, Reuters reported.
"I think no one trusts Delcy Rodriguez", she added of Venezuela's interim president, AFP reported.
Reuters noted that Rubio's current meeting with Machado at the U.S. State Department comes amid questions about whether President Donald Trump could support her as leader of her country instead of Nicolás Maduro, who was forcibly taken to the United States in a U.S. military operation.
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan army and police have pledged "unquestioning loyalty and obedience" Delcy Rodriguez at a ceremony in Fuerte Tiuna, a militarized area of Caracas where US troops captured President Nicolas Maduro on January 3, reported Agence France-Presse.
"We swear to unconditional loyalty and obedience", said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, who handed Rodriguez the baton symbolizing the supreme command of the armed forces. The powerful Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello also testified to the new leader on behalf of the law enforcement agencies.