Netherlands refusing to help Venezuelan opposition leader return home: report

Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition in exile, is trying to travel from Panama to Venezuela. She tried to reach her home country via Aruba and Curaçao last week, but both islands denied her permission to land, reporters David Alandete and Idania Chirinos told the Volkskrant. As part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Dutch government determines the islands’ foreign policy.

Machado has been trying to return to Venezuela for some time. She says she has been denied free passage to her home country four times before this latest attempt. That is why she invited the reporters from the Spanish newspaper ABC and the Colombian TV channel NTN24 to accompany her.

Her original plan was to sail from Panama to Venezuela last Tuesday, but shortly before departure, the boat company announced that the crossing could not happen. They claimed a broken engine part was behind the cancellation, but according to the reporters, this issue only surfaced after the passengers had their passports stamped and Machado’s identity was known. The explanation “did not seem credible,” Chirinos said.

That same day, they moved on to Plan B - flying from Panama to either Aruba or Curaçao and then sailing to Venezuela from there. Machado booked a charter flight, first trying Aruba and then Curaçao. “Neither island granted permission to land,” Chirinos said. Alandete confirmed that the charter company “did not receive the necessary permission to fly to Aruba or Curaçao.” According to the journalists, they claimed there was an issue with the paperwork. "But if it had been a mistake, they could easily have said: 'Just fix it,'" Chirinos said.

Aruba and Curaçao are responsible for their own airspace, but the Dutch government is responsible for the foreign policy for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which includes the two islands.

Sidney Kock, a spokesperson for the Aruban representation in The Hague, told the Volkskrant that this case involved a political figure, which is an area “over which the islands do not have sole authority.”

Prime Minister Rob Jetten refused to comment on the matter during his weekly press conference on Friday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Volkskrant that it would not comment on Machado’s “potential travel plans,” but added that the Netherlands has “for years been unflagging in its efforts to achieve a democratic transition,” including providing support to “Machado and her team.”