Sept. 23 (UPI) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has been unable to return to Venezuela from Panama despite at least three attempts this week and seven since leaving the country.

Meanwhile, interim President Delcy Rodríguez met with President Donald Trump in New York, where the U.N. General Assembly has convened.

Machado’s political team and her party, Vente Venezuela, publicly denounced the obstacles preventing the Nobel Peace Prize winner from returning to Venezuela in December 2025.

Pedro Urruchurtu, Vente Venezuela’s international relations coordinator, said Machado had tried to return by sea and air from Panama.

“Attention: They are preventing María Corina from returning to Venezuela,” Urruchurtu wrote on X. “They are not allowing her to return to her own country.”

Venezuelan journalist Idania Chirinos told NTN24 that Machado initially planned to travel by sea, and that authorities already had stamped the necessary passports when the trip was canceled.

“Everything was ready when they canceled it. They announced that the boat had mechanical problems,” Chirinos said.

Chirinos said Machado then attempted to fly to Aruba and travel from there by boat to Venezuela, but that effort also failed. Machado later sought to travel through Curaçao, but that flight was not allowed to depart.

Machado’s initial attempt to travel by sea involved a special diplomatic travel document issued by Panama on humanitarian grounds after her original documentation expired.

Spanish newspaper ABC reported that it had verified the document and said it was strictly a travel document that neither granted Machado Panamanian citizenship nor meant she had renounced her Venezuelan nationality, contrary to claims circulating on social media.

Despite the unsuccessful attempts, Vente Venezuela officials said Machado remains determined to return. Party representatives said she does not intend to enter Venezuela clandestinely, but rather plans a public return, with supporters coordinating civilian security and accompaniment efforts in the country.

Machado’s attempts to return came as Trump and Rodríguez held a closed-door bilateral meeting Tuesday night at the Lotte New York Palace on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

The meeting marked the first high-level face-to-face encounter between the two governments since the capture and removal by U.S. troops of Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.

Rodríguez described the encounter on X as a “historic meeting” and posted a photograph of herself with Trump.

“We held a historic meeting with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, with whom we discussed strengthening bilateral relations between our countries and advancing a cooperation agenda in strategic areas such as energy, mining and security,” Rodríguez wrote.

According to Rodríguez, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also attended the meeting, which focused on a roadmap for normalizing relations.

Rodríguez said the delegations discussed trade initiatives involving strategic sectors including energy, mining and security. She also thanked the White House for its support and humanitarian assistance after the devastating June 24 earthquakes in northern Venezuela.

Rodríguez said Washington also supported Venezuela’s reintegration into multilateral forums. Her remarks came ahead of her scheduled address Wednesday to the U.N. General Assembly.

The interim president said Venezuela and the United States share a historic relationship that both governments should now pursue through dialogue and diplomacy aimed at producing concrete results and mutual benefits.

During his address to the 81st U.N. General Assembly, Trump defended the U.S. military operation that led to Maduro’s capture, calling him an “outlaw dictator” and a “criminal.”

Trump said the United States would use its military power against threats in the Western Hemisphere.

With Rodríguez in the General Assembly hall, Trump also said he had signed the “largest oil deal in history” with Venezuela’s new authorities.

He defended the agreement by saying “to the victor belong the spoils” and said the deal would help lower global fuel prices and secure the release of hundreds of political prisoners in Venezuela.