Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Maria Corina Machado plans to return to Venezuela, praising Trump for Maduro's removal.
- Machado claims her movement can win over 90% in free elections.
- Trump's cooperation with Maduro's officials causes opposition, disappointment and international concern.
WASHINGTON — Venezuela's main opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has vowed to return home quickly, praising President Donald Trump for toppling her enemy Nicolas Maduro and declaring her movement ready to win a free election.
Trump appears, however, to hope for now to work with interim President Delcy Rodriguez and other senior officials from Maduro's government, disappointing the opposition and contributing to the nervousness gripping Venezuela.
"I'm planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible," said Machado, 58, an industrial engineer and mother of three who escaped from Venezuela in disguise in October to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which she dedicated to Trump.
"We believe that this transition should move forward," she told Fox News in an interview. "We won an election (in 2024) by a landslide under fraudulent conditions. In free and fair elections, we will win over 90% of the votes."
Machado said she had not spoken to Trump since Oct. 10, when the Nobel award was announced. He has said the United States needs to help address Venezuela's problems before any new elections, calling a 30-day timeline for a vote unrealistic.
"We have to fix the country first. You can't have an election. There's no way the people could even vote," Trump told NBC.
Socialist party loyalists still control Venezuela
In the interview late on Monday, her first since Maduro was captured by the U.S. over the weekend, Machado did not give her location or any more details on plans to repatriate to Venezuela, where she is wanted for arrest and Socialist Party loyalists remain in power.
To the dismay of the large diaspora — 1 in 5 Venezuelans have left during an economic implosion under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez — Trump has given little indication of backing Machado.
The opposition, some international observers and many U.S. allies say the opposition was cheated of victory in the 2024 election, from which Machado was banned and an ally stood instead, but Trump has said she lacks support in Venezuela.
Rodriguez is a diehard Maduro ally who has denounced his "kidnapping" while also calling for cooperation and respectful relations with Washington.
"Delcy Rodriguez, as you know, is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco-trafficking," Machado said. "She's a main ally and liaison of Russia, China, Iran, certainly not an individual who could be trusted by international investors, and she's really rejected by the Venezuelan people."
Praise and thanks for Trump
Machado, who has galvanized an often fractured and demoralized opposition in the last few years, said she would give Trump the Nobel Prize personally.
"He has proven to the world what he means. January 3rd will go down in history as the day justice defeated a tyranny," she said of Saturday's raid on Venezuela.
She thanked him for "his courageous vision, the historical actions he has taken against this narco-terrorist regime," and said, "It's a huge step towards a democratic transition."
With the world's largest oil reserves and the U.S. as its main ally, Venezuela would become the energy hub of the Americas, restore rule of law, open markets, bring exiles home and provide security to foreign investment, Machado said.
We have to fix the country first. You can't have an election. There's no way the people could even vote.
–President Donald Trump
Trump has, however, been told by the CIA that Rodriguez and other senior officials from Maduro's government are the best bet to maintain stability, sources said.
The authorities have ordered the arrest of anyone who collaborated with the seizure of Maduro and 14 media workers were briefly detained covering events in Caracas on Monday.
Footage verified by Reuters showed shots being fired on Monday night into the sky in Caracas, which a Venezuelan official said came from police to deter unauthorized drones.
"There was no confrontation, the entire country remains completely calm," Vice Minister of Communications Simon Arrechider told reporters.
With nearly 900 political prisoners still behind bars, according to a leading local rights group, Machado's Vente Venezuela movement demanded on Monday that they be released immediately as a first step towards restoring democracy.
Maduro pleads not guilty
Maduro, 63, pleaded not guilty on Monday to narcotics charges. He said he was a "decent man" and still president of Venezuela while standing in a Manhattan court shackled at the ankles and wearing orange and beige prison garb.
He is accused of overseeing a cocaine-trafficking network with international cartels. He has long denied the allegations, saying they were a mask for imperialist designs on oil.
Venezuela has the largest reserves — about 303 billion barrels, mostly hard-to-extract heavy oil. But the sector has long been in decline from mismanagement, underinvestment and U.S. sanctions, averaging 1.1 million barrels per day output last year, a third of its output in the 1970s and much less than producers such as the United States, Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Maduro's vice president, Rodriguez, has been sworn in as interim leader — and Venezuela's first female head of state — as government officials waver between angry defiance and potential cooperation with Trump. He has threatened another military strike if they displease him.
Worried world
Trump's actions, the biggest U.S. intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama, have brought condemnation from Russia, China and Venezuela's leftist allies. Legal experts have questioned its validity, and many allies have urged adherence to international laws and dialogue.
"It sends a signal that the powerful can do whatever they like," the U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday in the latest expression of international concern.
Trump has said the U.S. is now in charge of Venezuela and will help revive its oil industry with the help of private companies. He has floated the idea of military intervention in Colombia and Mexico also.
"The history of Latin America is clear and compelling: intervention has never brought democracy, never generated well-being, nor lasting stability," said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
