Venezuelan opposition politician Henrique Capriles warned on Tuesday that any negotiation excluding María Corina Machado — the country's most widely supported opposition leader — is "condemned to fail," calling for her inclusion in a new round of talks scheduled to begin on 1 August between the government of acting president Delcy Rodríguez and opposition representatives. The talks, brokered under US oversight, will feature Dinorah Figuera (president of Venezuela's 2015 National Assembly, reactivated by Washington as the last democratically elected legislative body in the country) as the opposition's designated negotiator, sidelining Machado despite a prior opposition coalition agreement that she would lead such negotiations. Capriles's call was echoed by veteran opposition figure Henry Ramos Allup, who said that any process without Machado's involvement would lack legitimacy — underscoring deep unease within the opposition over a framework that many fear is designed to marginalise their most prominent voice.