Venezuelan security forces guard the residence of Argentina's ambassador, where Venezuelan opposition members have sought asylum since March, in Caracas, Venezuela July 31, 2024. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo
(Reuters) -Venezuela's interior minister on Wednesday said the exit of Venezuelan opposition members from Argentina's diplomatic residence in Caracas was negotiated, after the opposition said the operation took the government by surprise.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello did not provide details, but said the individuals had left the Argentine ambassador's residence via a "negotiation."
"In the end, they ended up negotiating... everything was negotiated. They can say whatever they want now, they can put on whatever show they want — it's the absolute truth," said Cabello.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that five opposition staffers, who had been living in the residence since March 2024 after warrants were issued for their arrest, had made it to U.S. soil.
Cabello on Wednesday said four individuals had left the residence.
Earlier on Wednesday, Venezuela's main opposition coalition said that the "international rescue" operation had taken President Nicolas Maduro by surprise.
"This operation is a testimony to the dedication of many people, who, to the surprise of the regime of Nicolas Maduro, managed to break the chains of oppression," the opposition coalition said in a statement shared on X.
Maduro has been in Russia this week, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and signed a strategic partnership.
The opposition coalition said the five staffers would share reflections about their experience "in the coming days." Reuters was unable to independently confirm their current location.
While in the Argentine residence, the five had regularly used social media to share videos of state security forces outside the building, where the electricity and water were repeatedly cut, sometimes for weeksatatime.
The statement from the opposition thanked U.S. President Donald Trump, Rubio and Argentine PresidentJavierMilei for their role in the operation. It did not give further details.
The Argentine residence in Caracas has been under Brazilian custody since Buenos Aires cut relations with Maduro's government over the 2024 election, which the opposition and its backers say was won by Edmundo Gonzalez, now living in Spain.
Brazil was not involvedin any operation to remove the staffers from the residence, a Brazilian diplomatic source said on Wednesday. Brazil's government said in a statement that it had repeatedly tried to obtain safe passage for the staffers, however.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado hailed the operation late on Tuesday and called for the release of 900 other politicians and activists detained last year.
Two sources told Reuters on Wednesday that Machado's elderly mother - 85-year-old Corina Parisca de Machado - had also left Venezuela.
Cabello said on Wednesday that Parisca de Machado had left on Monday via Bogota, Colombia.
Since the election, Machado, who is in hiding in Venezuela, has regularly complained of security forces gathering outside her mother'shome.
(Reporting by Reuters, additional reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Lincoln Feast.)
