Washington said on Monday that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump later this week, as growing international pressure pushes authorities in Caracas to accelerate the release of political detainees.
Machado has been sidelined by Washington since U.S. forces seized long-term authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3 and the Trump administration announced it would be "running" Venezuela.
Disregarding Machado and her understudy Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, Trump has been working instead with acting president Delcy Rodriguez, left in power with other Maduro cronies.
Trump has warned Rodriguez to toe Washington's line or face the consequences, particularly on granting access to the South American country's vast oil reserves.
A U.S. administration official told AFP the Republican president will meet Machado at the White House on Thursday.
