Caracas, Venezuela - Venezuelan Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado said on Sunday she will not participate in US-backed talks with the de facto government of Delcy Rodriguez, scheduled for August.

In a statement cosigned by Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who ran for president in Venezuela's 2024 elections, Machado said the opposition would "not participate" in the "design, development, and operation" of the talks.

In mid-July, Rodriguez's interim government and a group of former opposition members of parliament from the 2015–2020 term announced a work plan for "strengthening democracy" in the country.

"It is not our place to explain its scope and decisions. Those promoting it must inform the country of its objectives, its method, and its timeline," Machado's statement, which was shared on social media and has been translated from Spanish, said.

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President Donald Trump's administration – which abducted former president Nicolás Maduro in a midnight military raid in January – has hailed the initiative as an important step toward political reconciliation and the return of democracy in Venezuela.

With US support, exiled opposition figure Dinorah Figuera made a quick visit to Venezuela in June and met with National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez.

Machado defended Gonzalez Urrutia's victory in the disputed 2024 presidential elections, in which Maduro was declared the winner amid allegations of fraud.

On Sunday, however, she said she would not stand in the way "of any initiative that would produce real progress," and vowed: "We will return to Venezuela."

Rodriguez has accused the interim government of blocking her return to Venezuela following devastating twin earthquakes last month that left at least 5547 people dead and injured at least 17,000 more.

"Rebuilding what has been destroyed and supporting the families who lost everything is not merely an administrative task," Machado wrote. "It requires a new government with moral authority and managerial capacity."