Nicolas Maduro captured, Trump confirms; US to tap oil reserves; Russia, Colombia, Brazil condemn attack
President Donald Trump has dismissed the idea of working with Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado on a political transition for Venezuela, a setback for the opposition leader who won international acclaim in her fight for democracy in the country.
Shortly before Trump’s press conference, Machado, the opposition leader, called on her ally Edmundo González — a retired diplomat widely considered to have won the country’s disputed 2024 presidential election — to “immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognised as commander-in-chief.”
In a triumphant statement, Machado promised that her movement would “restore order, free political prisoners, build an exceptional country and bring our children back home.”
She added: “Today we are prepared to assert our mandate and take power.”
While Machado is a “nice woman,” she lacks support and respect inside Venezuela, Trump said during his news conference following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last year.Credit: AP
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader,” Trump said.
Instead, he said the US plans to work with Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s second-in-command.
Venezuelan Vice President and Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez has been named interim president by the nation’s Supreme Court. Credit: AP
The president’s remarks left opposition leaders and Machado’s team stunned and saddened, according to people familiar with the matter.
Before leaving to collect her Nobel last month, Machado had been living in hiding in Venezuela, refusing to leave her country as she pressed the international community to condemn Maduro’s regime for human rights violations and election tampering.
Residents takes a photograph near a painting of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado during a celebration in Santiago, Chile.Credit: Bloomberg
She had been adamant that her group was ready to lead the day Maduro was no longer in charge.
But some of the people close to Machado, who asked for anonymity to discuss their strategy privately, are holding out hope that the Trump administration has a plan to incorporate her and other opposition leaders into Venezuela’s transition eventually.
Some Trump advisers have viewed a transition to Rodriguez as an off-ramp from Maduro’s hard-line regime, according to people familiar with the Trump administration’s deliberations.
That view holds that a gradual transition away from Maduro’s leadership would be less disruptive and destabilising than a transition to Machado.
Bloomberg
