Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets President Trump removal of Nicolas Maduro from power and said her coalition has a mandate to lead the country forward, even as Mr. Trump leaves doubts about whether Machado can take power herself.
Machado spoke with CBS Evening News host Tony Dokoupil in an exclusive Tuesday, just three days after the U.S. military carried out a daring mission to capture Maduro, ending the authoritarian president's nearly 13-year rule over Venezuela.
In recent months, Machado has joined Trump in supporting his administration's months-long pressure campaign against the Maduro regime and dedication him the Nobel Peace Prize. When Trump ordered a surprise operation over the weekend to remove Maduro from Caracas and bring him to New York on drug trafficking charges, Machado celebrated this move loudly.
Machado has since called on her ally Edmundo Gonzalez, whom the US recognizes as the winner of the 2024 elections, to quickly seize power in Venezuela, replacing Maduro militants who still rule the country.
But Mr. Trump refused to support Machado's movement. He said on Saturday that it would be “very difficult” for her to govern Venezuela, and expressed doubt that she had enough support within the country, saying: “She is a very good woman, but she has no respect.”
Asked why she thought Mr. Trump would say those things about her, Machado suggested there may be lingering concerns about Venezuela's stability. She told CBS News that Venezuela is “overrun by a criminal narco-terrorist system.” with the support partisan detachments and U.S. adversaries such as Iran and Cuba, and “there are concerns that these groups will resist a peaceful transition.”
However, Machado said she believes “the vast majority of military and police officers in Venezuela also support an orderly transition to democracy.”
She continued: “I believe we have one country.”
Asked if she believes she is the right person to lead Venezuela in the first chapter of its post-Maduro future, Machado told CBS News that “the people of Venezuela have already made a choice” and her coalition is “ready and willing to serve our people as we have been entrusted with.”
She pointed to the country's bitter 2024 elections, which pitted Gonzalez against Maduro because the government barred Machado, who won the opposition primary, from running on her own. Maduro's government declared him the winner, but the results were rejected by much of the international community and many believe they were tainted by widespread fraud.
Machado, who told CBS News she had not spoken to Mr. Trump this year, said Venezuelans are “very grateful” to Mr. Trump. She called Maduro's arrest “an important step toward restoring prosperity, the rule of law and democracy in Venezuela.”
She acknowledged that the country is not there yet. She claimed that Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez played a key role in Maduro's corruption, was “one of the main architects” of Venezuela's security state and served as the “main link” between the South American country and Russia and Iran.
“Everyone in Venezuela and abroad knows very well who she is and what role she played,” Machado said.
Asked if she had a message for Trump, she replied: “Trust the Venezuelan people.”
“We've come a long way,” she said, pointing to what she called a “huge” victory in 2024 despite widespread allegations of fraud. “Imagine if there were free and fair elections.”
She predicted that Venezuela “will become not only a security ally of the United States, but also a country of prosperity,” allowing millions of Venezuelans who have fled the country due to economic hardship and political threats to return home. And she said she supports the return of US oil companies to Venezuela, supporting Mr. Trump's recent onslaught.
She also predicted that the remnants of Maduro's government and any violent groups in the country would be “neutralized.”
“I dare say that there is no other society in this hemisphere as cohesive and cohesive as the Venezuelan one,” she said. “More than 90% of our population wants the same thing. We want to live with respect, dignity, justice and opportunity.”
