Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela’s main opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has praised US President Donald Trump for toppling the government of Nicolas Maduro, as she vowed to return to her country. She also asserted that her party had won the 2024 elections and expressed confidence it would secure 90% of the vote in a free and fair poll.
“I’m planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible,” Maria Corina Machado said, adding, “We believe this transition should move forward. We won the 2024 election by a landslide under fraudulent conditions. In free and fair elections, we will win over 90% of the votes.”
Maria Corina Machado had been in hiding before escaping Venezuela in October to receive her Nobel Peace Prize.
Even as she praised Trump for toppling the Maduro government, the US president has signaled his willingness to work with interim President Delcy Rodriguez. He has also said Venezuela needs to be stabilized before any elections are held.
“We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote,” Trump told. NBCAlso Read | Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado backs Trump’s pressure on Maduro—what she said on US intervention in Venezuela
The opposition, several international observers, and many US allies argue that the opposition was cheated of victory in the 2024 election. Machado was barred from contesting, with an ally standing in her place. Trump, however, has said she lacks support in Venezuela.
Delcy Rodríguez, whom Trump hopes to work with, has long been an ally of Maduro.
Speaking about the acting president, Machado said: “Delcy Rodríguez, as you know, is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption and narco-trafficking. She is a key ally and liaison of Russia, China and Iran, certainly not someone who could be trusted by international investors. She is widely rejected by the Venezuelan people.”
On Trump, Machado said: “He has proven to the world what he means. January 3 will go down in history as the day justice defeated tyranny.” Thanking him for his “courageous vision and the historic actions he has taken against this narco-terrorist regime”, she added: “It’s a huge step towards a democratic transition.”
