Venezuela Denies That Opposition Members Left Country Under International Rescue Operation

Venezuela's government on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that members of the country's opposition left the Argentine diplomatic compound where they had sheltered for over a year, but it denied that their arrival to the United States occurred under an international rescue operation as characterized by the political faction and the US State Department.

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Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the group's movements were negotiated with the government and further alleged that one of the six people who entered the Argentine ambassador's residence in March left the compound in August, contradicting earlier statements from the opposition.

Cabello's statements came roughly 24 hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on social media that the opposition members were on US soil after a "successful rescue."