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London: Venezuelan political leader María Corina Machado has thrown her support behind the US military operation to replace the nation’s leadership and vowed to return home in the hope of winning an election to decide the country’s future.
Machado heaped praise on Donald Trump in her first interview since the US President ordered special forces into the country to capture its leader, Nicolás Maduro, and assert US control of the nation and its oil industry.
Maria Corina Machado greets crowds in Oslo last month after emerging from hiding. Credit: AP
Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last October for her campaign for free and fair elections in Venezuela, appeared on Fox News to back Trump when his critics say he has breached the United Nations charter.
“January 3 will go down in history as the day justice defeated a tyranny,” she said of the US action last Saturday to capture Maduro and transfer him to New York to face trial over narcotics trafficking.
“It’s a milestone, and it’s not only huge for the Venezuelan people and our future, I think it’s a huge step for humanity, for freedom and human dignity.”
Trump praised Machado in the hours after the military operation to seize Maduro, but said she did not have enough support to run the country, using this as justification to back Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, as the interim president.
Machado spoke to Fox News – the US president’s preferred television network – to warn against keeping Rodríguez in power while making it clear to host Sean Hannity that she was thankful to Trump for what he had done.
“I do want to say today, on behalf of the Venezuelan people, how grateful we are for his courageous vision, the historical actions he has taken against this narco-terrorist regime to start dismantling this structure and bringing Maduro to justice,” she said.
Machado won an early stage of the country’s presidential election in 2023 but was blocked from contesting the final ballot, choosing to back former diplomat Edmundo González, who won the final race. Gonzalez is now based in Spain after Maduro refused to step down after losing the election.
Machado lived in hiding in Venezuela for more than a year before emerging in Oslo in December to accept the Nobel, but she did not disclose her location when she spoke to Fox News. She said she last spoke to Trump on December 10, and she dedicated the peace prize to the US president and the Venezuelan people.
US President Donald Trump addresses House Republicans in Washington on Tuesday.Credit: AP
Trump has warned in public remarks that Rodríguez would pay a “very big price” if she does not do what he wants, but this has not discouraged her from keeping two of Maduro’s top lieutenants, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello Rondón, in office.
Cabello Rondón is named as a defendant in the US indictment against Maduro and has been blamed for the repression of civil society leaders.
“What we’re seeing right now, in the last 24 hours is really alarming,” Machado said, pointing to the detention of journalists by the interim administration in Caracas.
“Delcy Rodríguez, as you know, is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco trafficking.
Delcy Rodríguez has been sworn in as acting President of Venezuela.Credit: Getty Images
“She’s the main ally and liaison with Russia, China, Iran – certainly not an individual that could be trusted by international investors.”
Trump has made no promises about elections in Venezuela, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the priority was the security of the US and that the next steps would take time.
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The US administration has sent conflicting messages about whether it is “running” the country – as Trump claimed at one point – and is yet to outline a transition to a new government.
At the same time, there are doubts about whether major US companies will invest in the oil industry because of the geopolitical risks.
Machado set out her credentials as a future leader who could bring stability to the country and restore a market economy, telling Fox News she had won the 2023 ballot in a landslide and wanted a “free and fair” election.
“We will win with over 90 per cent of the votes. I have no doubt about it,” she said.
Supporters in Caracas demand the return of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.Credit: AP
As Trump talks about opening up the oil industry for US companies, Machado set out an agenda to turn Venezuela into a strong US ally with a market economy.
“We will turn Venezuela into the energy power of the Americas,” she said.
“We will bring rule of law. We will open markets. There will be security for people and investment.
“We will bring millions of Venezuelans, that have been forced to flee our country, back home to build a strong nation, prosperous nation, open society.
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“We will leave behind all the destruction the socialist regime, the criminal regime, has brought to our people, and turned Venezuela into the main ally of the United States in Latin America.”
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