ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – US President Donald Trump denied preventing Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado from returning to her country after the recent devastating earthquakes, a move that could pose a direct challenge to acting President Delcy Rodríguez.

“I did not tell her to not go back. I think she’s a good person,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the evening of July 8 as he flew back to Washington after attending a NATO summit in Turkey.

Machado has said she intends to return to Venezuela as the government struggles to deal with one of its worst natural disasters in decades.

The death toll from the late June’s quakes has risen to more than 3,600 as of July 9, according to official figures, as authorities continued to recover bodies.

A Machado return would force Rodríguez to choose between embracing her chief political rival in a show of national unity or accusations that her government is tightening control over the country during a national emergency.

How Rodríguez handles the crisis is already shaping perceptions of her administration after the US removed her predecessor, Nicolas Maduro, in early January.

Machado was