Rubio Says Street Protests Will Not Bring Democracy to Venezuela

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday that street protests would not lead Venezuela to democracy, a remark that Axios reported came a day after exiled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned to Caracas with great fanfare.

Axios reported that Rubio did not explicitly mention Machado in his remarks. The outlet described them as a veiled warning against interfering with the country's fragile democratic transition, which it said has been pushed by the Trump administration. In the words Axios reported, Rubio said, "You're not going to street-protest your way into a democracy."

The Hill reported that Rubio also praised Machado's return, and it cited Axios for the wording of his remarks. The Hill described Machado as the exiled Nobel Peace Prize winner who had returned to her home country, and said Rubio spoke without naming her.

The two reports agree on the timing of the remarks, on the absence of Machado's name, and on the core warning. They differ in emphasis. The Axios summary characterized the comments as veiled, while The Hill's summary adds that Rubio praised her return, a point the Axios summary does not mention.

Neither report states where Rubio spoke to reporters. The reports also do not describe any response from Machado to the remarks. Axios and The Hill both place the remarks on Monday.

Sources: Axios: Rubio warns Venezuela's Machado: Street protests won't get you democracy; The Hill: Rubio responds to Machado return: Can’t ‘street-protest your way into a democracy’.