CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP)—Venezuelan opposition leader Dinorah Figuera told AFP on Friday she is traveling to the United States for meetings, a day after returning from years in exile to initiate dialogue with Venezuela’s interim government.

The former parliamentarian, who has Washington’s backing to promote a democratic transition agenda following the fall of authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, arrived in Venezuela unexpectedly on Thursday and met with the president of the National Assembly.

“I’m going to Miami precisely to evaluate everything that follows. I have many meetings,” Figuera told AFP in WhatsApp audio messages, while not specifying with whom she would meet.

Thursday’s meeting in Venezuela between National Assembly chief Jorge Rodriguez and Figuera, who returned to Caracas after eight years of exile, “is a first step in what will be a thoughtful process to secure a free and open Venezuelan society,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

Former president Nicolas Maduro was captured in January during a US military raid and arrested on drug trafficking charges, and the Venezuelan government has since been led by his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, on an interim basis.

Upon her return to Venezuela, Figuera sought to distance herself from opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, who has recently launched her own initiative to negotiate a Venezuelan democratic transition.