Caracas: Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado has praised US President Donald Trump’s administration for its role in the removal of President Nicolas Maduro, describing the development as opening the ‘floodgates to freedom’.
Corina Machado has also called for presidential elections to be held in Venezuela in 2027, marking her first public appearance since returning from more than 10 months in exile. Speaking at a news conference in Caracas, Machado thanked Trump, his administration and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their actions on January 3. Machado remarked that their intervention had created an opportunity for Venezuela to move towards democratic change.
Machado added that Rubio had outlined a series of steps aimed at facilitating a democratic transition, including presidential elections in 2027. A longtime critic of Maduro’s government, Machado left Venezuela for Oslo in December to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She returned to the country after spending months in exile, saying her objective was to mobilize Venezuelan society. Reports highlighted that US special forces veterans associated with Grey Bull Rescue helped her escape by boat after she had spent a year in hiding.
Following Maduro’s removal in January, former Vice President Delcy Rodriguez assumed leadership of the country. Machado’s return was welcomed by cheering supporters who gathered to see her motorcade in Caracas. Rodriguez, however, criticised the attention surrounding the opposition leader’s arrival, saying the public spectacle could have been avoided.
When asked whether she planned to meet Rodriguez, Machado stated that she had received no communication from either the Venezuelan leader or the US government. Shortly before Machado’s news conference, Rodriguez elections would take place in Venezuela, with the international community witnessing the process, but did not announce a specific date.
Machado also criticised a recently announced US oil agreement involving Venezuela, under which the country is expected to hand over 20 percent of its vast oil reserves. She added that the agreement did not meet the transparency standards expected by Venezuelan society.
The political developments come with continued uncertainty over Venezuela’s democratic transition, the timing of future elections and the country’s economic relationship with the United States.
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